House passes lean budget

House passes lean budget

Wendy Warburton

This week the Montana House passed our budget bill, House Bill 2. This forms the basis for Montana's budget for the next two years. Passing a balanced budget is the one constitutional duty of the Legislature, and one that I take seriously.

The initial budget, proposed by the governor before the legislative session, was not balanced. It would have spent more money than nonpartisan projections say that our state will take in. Growing government and raiding our savings account is not responsible, particularly when our economy is still not robust. State gov...