If It Walks Like A Duck and Talks Like A Duck...

Finally, They Admit It's A Duck!
With Rounds' Reversal and Call for 10% Budget Cuts; Heidepriem Calls for Special Session to Begin Dealing with Budget Mess
Calls on Daugaard to Take His Lead in Making Cuts

Sioux Falls -- After months of denying that there is a budget crisis and in light of the Rounds' Administration reversal and now calling for 10 percent across the board cuts in state government, Senate Leader Scott Heidepriem today sent a letter to Governor Mike Rounds calling for a special session of the state legislature to begin the difficult process of finally dealing with South Dakota's state government budget crisis.
"For eight years, Mike Rounds and Dennis Daugaard have been living a fantasy. Every year they ran up unprecedented deficits with wild state government growth, from TransCanada to Valhalla to multiple state airplanes, only to blame everyone but themselves for the debt before denying there was any debt at all and patting themselves on the back after being bailed out by federal dollars while they pushed their debt to the next year and the next," Heidepriem said.
Heidepriem also called on Dennis Daugaard to finally take his lead and admit there is a crisis and begin the hard process of making cuts. Daugaard has repeatedly in this campaign refused to admit that South Dakota's budget is in crisis. During the past legislative session, Daugaard refused to support cuts proposed by Heidepriem and Senate Republican Leader Dave Knudson. Then in April, Daugaard sent out a fundraising letter to Republican donors claiming emphatically, "there is NO 'budget crisis' in South Dakota."
"I am calling today for Dennis Daugaard to take my lead, admit there is a budget crisis and support significant cuts and for the Governor to immediately call a special session of the Legislature to address the budget crisis. It makes no sense to wait until January. Let's be honest with the people of South Dakota and show them where we are really at with their tax dollars," Heidepriem said.
Heidepriem said he thought the special session could be completed on one day. He recommends the legislature start by reducing the size of state government by two to three percent; eliminating TransCanada's eligibility for tax rebates; and eliminating phantom FTE's.

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