With Ohio's tax collection numbers continuing to nosedive, Gov. Ted Strickland took drastic steps Wednesday to control state spending in hopes of forestalling another round of budget cuts before this summer.
Strickland hopes to keep the current two-year budget, which runs through June 30, balanced. But state tax collections over the past four months have lagged behind projections by about $200 million while the state has already seen nearly $2 billion in cuts and spending reductions this fiscal year....
......The freeze will not affect purchases considered essential to health, safety and welfare, such as food and medical supplies for those in mental health and state prison facilities...
**** It seems as if the party of "NO!" (AKA Republican Party and the GOP) has similar ideas on conservation. Here are two examples from recent voting records as posted by the Clerk of the House:
HR 411 To assist in the conservation of rare fields and rare canids by supporting and providing financial resources for the conservation programs of nations within the range of rare field and rare canid populations and projects of persons with demonstrated expertise in the conservation of rare field and rare canid populations.
The Roll Call Vote shows that 117 Republicans and 1 Democrat (Huh?) voted against this bill, including the following: Austria, Bachmann, Blunt, Boehner, Foxx, Jordan(OH), Issa, LaTourette, Pence, etc., etc., etc.
In another Roll Call vote for HR 388 (To assist in the conservation of cranes by supporting and providing, through projects of persons and organizations with expertise in crane conservation, financial resources for the conservation programs of countries the activities of which directly or indirectly affect cranes and the ecosystems of cranes.), 115 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted against the Crane Conservation Act of 2009. According to Roll Call Vote 193, Nays included Austria, Bachmann, Blunt, Boehner, Foxx, Issa, Jordan(OH), Pence, Tiberi, etc., etc., etc.
