Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, offered this comment about Gov. Jay Inslee’s budget released today:

“While it’s promising that the governor finally proposed a budget that balances over four years, I call on him to publicly commit to veto any budget that doesn’t.

“I’m glad that undoing the levy reform enacted in the McCleary solution isn’t part of the governor’s budget, but I am concerned about his willingness to raid the state’s reserves. How is that fiscally responsible? I remind him that to tap into the ‘Rainy Day Fund’ requires a supermajority that he is unlikely to get.

“I also worry how the governor’s as-yet-unveiled ‘carbon pricing plan’ would affect family jobs in Washington. If he can’t explain the difference between a carbon tax and a carbon pricing plan, then it’s a tax. It IS an energy tax.

“According to the Institute for Energy Research, carbon taxes reduce economic growth and achieve no real environmental improvement. And, it would force companies who employ workers around the state to move overseas, costing many Washington families their jobs.”