House GOP Leader Criticizes Louisiana Budget

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A leader of conservative House Republicans calls it "shameful" that a GOP-controlled Louisiana Legislature passed a $25.6 billion budget that contained piecemeal, one-time funding.

Rep. Brett Geymann, a Republican from Lake Charles, says while the GOP holds the governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature, "We're not doing anything different."

Geymann is one of three dozen lawmakers in the House who call themselves "fiscal hawks" and who pushed for reduced spending. They wanted to remove $270 million in one-time money that will pay for ongoing expenses, saying it's irresponsible to use the patchwork financing that isn't certain to appear year after year.

Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration and senators who unanimously agreed to use the money say public colleges and health services would have faced devastating cuts without the funding.