September 02, 2010 5:16 PM
Natasha Lindstrom

VICTORVILLE • Despite a lot of theatrics and little progress in Sacramento this week, two Victor Valley state representatives say they’re confident that the GOP will succeed in negotiating a no-tax budget by the end of the month.

“I truly believe there’s going to be enough Democrats to come over to see an all-cuts budget,” Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, said by phone Thursday. “We’re just not going to the tax increases.”

More than two months into the new fiscal year, the state has no spending plan in place to close a $19 billion deficit. The budget gridlock has delayed payments to schools, hospitals and other vendors.

“It’s starting to get frantic,” Knight said. “The longer the budget goes on, the harder it hurts our contractors and the more damaging it is to our system in general.”

There was no compromise plan up for vote crafted by the “Big 5” legislative leaders as the regular legislative session ended Tuesday. The Democrats pitched a budget using a combination of cuts and tax hikes, while Republicans insisted on only cuts.

Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, said none of Tuesday’s actions was “a real budget vote.”

“There’s no doubt that in order to live within our means we’ve got to make some painful choices,” Runner said by phone.

One such painful cut: the proposal by both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republicans to save $1.2 billion by eliminating the state’s welfare-to-work program, CalWORKs, which currently aids some 1.4 million people, including 1.1 million children.

Both Runner and Knight suspect that as budget talks continue, the Legislature will settle on a compromise that doesn’t delete CalWORKs altogether. That could mean reducing payments for cash aid and childcare subsidies while rooting out fraud and boosting the program’s efficiency.

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