Far-left attacks Senate budget with 6 deceptions

The Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE)—a million dollar donor to Democrat campaigns—is working hard to ensure that Republicans are blamed for a state government shutdown. In fact, WFSE recently held a rally dedicated to blaming state Senate Republicans for the impending government shutdown. The union claimed that Senate Republicans are willing to shut down the state government if it means state employee union members do not receive pay raises as secretly negotiated by Inslee. You can check out why that’s a lie here.

But, that’s not the only lie WFSE is telling about state Senate Republican’s budget. Here are six lies you may hear via the WFSE:

1. The Senate’s budget doesn’t fund public employee pay raises:

This claim is entirely false. Republicans’ original budget grants pay raises. The revised version fully funds the collective bargaining agreements between Jay Inslee and state employee unions as a compromise for reform measures.

2. The Senate cuts funding for parks: This is also a lie. Both Republicans’ original and revised budget proposals fund parks at the rate of $148 million, a 13 percent increase in spending. The House’s plan spends $29 million of general fund, while only using $101 million of Parks Stewardship Account. Alternatively, the Senate’s plan spends $16 million of general fund and uses $113 million of Parks Stewardship Account. The differences are superficial.
3. The Senate doesn’t fund important public services: This is a ridiculous claim due to its vagueness. The reality is that all non-education spending increases by 5.4% under the Senate budget. Additionally, the social safety net is maintained. Fundamentally, House Democrats and Senate Republicans disagree over how big and how fast the spending will increase.
4. The Senate wants to take away “important bargaining rights”: Senate Republicans are merely attempting to do away with secrecy measures established to solely benefit state employee unions. These secrecy measures were implemented relatively recently (10 years ago). No other federal or state union enjoys a similar level of secrecy.
5. Senate Republicans are getting an 11% raise: This is more of a major misrepresentation than a lie. It was Senate Democrat minority leader Sharon Nelson who petitioned a citizen-dominated commission to advocate for lawmakers to receive a raise. And, it was Senate Republican Deputy Majority Leader John Braun who petitioned against the raise in a letter to the commission. In the end, the commission (which lawmakers are not a part of) made the decision based on the reasoning that a higher salary would make the state Legislature more accessible to those not independently wealthy.
6. The Senate Republican Millionaire Caucus: This claim comes via the far-left group Fuse Washington. According to Fuse, there may or may not be 13-14 millionaires in the Senate Republican Caucus. That bets out the 8-9 millionaires in the Senate Democrat Caucus. The Olympian recently chastised this ridiculous characterization as nothing more than a ploy meant to score cheap political points.