Maryland Senate rejects GOP trims of $39 billion budget

By Len Lazarick | Maryland Reporter

With minimal debate, the Maryland Senate rejected a half dozen Republican attempts to further trim Gov. Martin O’Malley’s $39 billion budget Wednesday, and gave preliminary approval to the spending plan that will be sent to the House this week.

The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee ultimately cut $492 million from the current budget and O’Malley’s proposal for next year, partly to make up for lowered revenue estimates in both years.

The overall fiscal 2015 budget will spend $1.7 billion more than last year, a 4.5 percent increase. Some of the biggest gains are in spending on medical assistance and welfare, with federal dollars funding most of those gains.

Budget Committee Chairman Ed Kasemeyer called it a “lean budget.”

at Maryland Reporter.

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