Democrats see California's new budget as an answer, and an antidote, to President Trump's plans
Democrats in the California Legislature never shy away from hyping their state budgets as both responsible and visionary. But the rhetoric surrounding this year’s proposal, signed into law on Tuesday, has sounded more like a call to arms.
It is the latest sign that the era of President Trump has done more than change the mood of the majority party’s lawmakers in Sacramento — it’s changed their approach to governing the nation’s most populous state.
“This is a budget that does things for people, not to people,” said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) as lawmakers debated the plan on June 15.
Assembly Democrats nicknamed their proposal the “protect and persist” budget, the latest example of their seething anger over Trump’s efforts to shift the nation’s priorities rightward. While the $183.2-billion spending outline only rarely veers into direct confrontations with federal policy, legislative leaders nonetheless see it as a national example — an alternative view on the role of government.