California Governor Schwarzenegger gets serious about budget in State of the State address

As politicians dither and California continues to fight a $42 billion budget deficit, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has requested that lawmakers forgo getting paid until a resolution is reached. From an L.A. Times story:

Describing California's monumental budget deficit as "a rock upon our chest," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger broke from tradition in his State of the State address today with a blunt vow not to advance any policy agenda this year other than resolving the state's fiscal crisis.

As lawmakers sat before him in the Assembly chamber, Schwarzenegger said they had put their partisan beliefs above the interests of Californians, and he asked them to forgo own their salaries if they fail to pass the next budget by the deadline in June...

"Addressing this emergency is the first and greatest thing we can do for the people," Schwarzenegger said. "The $42-billion deficit is a rock upon our chest, that we cannot breathe until we get it off. It doesn't make any sense to talk . . . about education, infrastructure, water, healthcare reform and all those things when we have this huge budget deficit."

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