Idaho Republican takes a principled stand against harmful budget cuts | Opinion
Idaho Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, rose to the “defining moment” last week when he voted against harmful cuts to the state’s Health and Human Services budget.
“I’ve been here for 16 years, and every so often we experience a defining moment as we serve in the Legislature, moments that signal the path we choose for the state as we pass legislation, and that define us as legislators,” Guthrie said during his debate.
The six-term senator from the Pocatello area sounded like a holdover from a better time in Idaho politics as he debated last week against Senate Bill 1375, the budget for health and human services.
No, he wasn’t debating against funding health and human services; he was debating against harmful cuts that were sent to them by the out-of-control budget committee that approved the budget.
Guthrie said the cuts, if approved, would hurt not only the people who use these services but also the people who provide these services and would translate to higher costs later in terms of emergency room visits, mental health services and use of law enforcement.
“We are potentially doing real harm this year as we find ourselves in this defining moment,” he said. “This issue gets painted as a conservative-liberal issue. It’s really a human issue. But as for me, I am comfortable with how my ‘no’ vote will define me.”
There’s good reason Guthrie seems like a throwback to a better time: He was there.
He recalled the other defining moment in his legislative career: the painful budget cuts that were necessitated by the Great Recession in the 2009-11 sessions.
Guthrie was in the House of Representatives for one term in 2011 before moving over to the Senate. He noted that he and Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke were probably the only ones in the Senate who were in the Legislature then.
Back then, the Legislature approved $600 million in cuts and the use of $450 million in rainy day funds, brought on by the housing crisis and consequent financial collapse.
Idaho budget cuts self-inflicted
This time around, though, the painful budget cuts are self-inflicted, after the Legislature and Gov. Brad Little cut more than $4 billion in taxes from 2022-24 before cutting another $450 million last year, much of it ongoing cuts to tax rates.
“Today’s financial pain, in my opinion, in large part is self-inflicted,” Guthrie said. “We have put ourselves in an uncomfortable financial corner.”
Guthrie noted that he voted against nearly $300 million of those cuts last year.
Guthrie also chastised fellow senators for not “tightening our belts,” in terms of legislators’ pay and benefits.
“We are tightening the belts of Idaho citizens, and the feedback from my constituents is that they are not happy about it,” Guthrie said.
Guthrie suggested using some of the $1.7 billion in reserve accounts, “keeping in mind that is taxpayer money we have already taken from their pockets.”
Whether his testimony changed minds is hard to tell. During his testimony, he presumed the budget would pass, but in the end, the budget failed 25-10, with the help of Democrats and some far-right Republicans who wanted deeper cuts.
As the Idaho Capital Sun’s Clark Corbin reported, senators from both political parties stood up while voting after Guthrie’s six-minute debate to acknowledge the power of Guthrie’s words.
“If there was a time when I wanted to stand up and give a standing ovation to a testimony that was given on this floor, it was just a moment ago by the good senator from (District) 28,” Sen. Treg Bernt, R-Meridian, said in explaining his “no” vote.
If there was one ominous sign in Guthrie’s speech, it was that he referred to the two defining moments — the Great Recession and this year’s budget — as “bookends to my legislative career.”
Guthrie has filed for reelection, and he faces a primary challenger who’s campaigning against LGBTQ+ rights, drag shows and what he calls pornography in public institutions.
No doubt, the far-right faction of the Idaho Republican Party is gunning for Guthrie. But he’s survived their attacks before.
Guthrie’s brave and principled vote against health care cuts that will harm Idahoans should embolden his constituents to support him, not fire him.
Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, assistant editor Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.