Democrats’ budgeting strategy is simple: spend first, panic later, blame others always.

Democrats Break the Budget… Again

Just nine months after Washington Democrats congratulated themselves on “balancing” the budget, they’re back in Olympia staring down another multibillion-dollar hole. This time it’s more than $4 billion over four years, proving their financial math works about as well as a wish and a press release.

Revenue is down, costs are up, and suddenly the fantasy budget from last spring doesn’t look so balanced anymore. About $1.7 billion of the shortfall comes from weaker-than-expected tax collections, driven by slower housing construction, softer job growth, and uncertainty from federal tariffs. But the real kicker is spending: more than $3 billion in higher maintenance and caseload costs as government programs keep expanding and getting more expensive.

Medicaid alone is ballooning, with long-term care enrollment growing at an 8% annual rate, nearly triple pre-pandemic levels. Add in new federal mandates that require expensive system upgrades, and the price tag keeps climbing. Government grows, costs explode, and taxpayers are left holding the bag.

Naturally, Democrats aren’t blaming their own spending habits. Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen says the budget mess is “almost entirely” the fault of the federal government and the Trump administration. Because apparently Olympia is just an innocent bystander to its own budgeting decisions.

Republicans, meanwhile, are stating the obvious: you can’t spend more than you take in forever without consequences. Now those consequences are here.

Instead of fixing the problem, Gov. Bob Ferguson wants to kick the can down the road by passing a two-year “balanced” budget and ignoring the longer-term damage. It may buy Democrats some breathing room today, but it guarantees an even bigger mess tomorrow.

Same story, same party, same result: overspend, panic, blame someone else, and push the bill into the future. Read more at Axios.

See No Fraud, Hear No Fraud, Investigate No Fraud

Seattle’s new mayor, Katie Wilson, has made her priorities crystal clear: when it comes to potential daycare fraud, her answer is a flat “no.” Asked directly whether she planned to have city agencies investigate possible fraud, Wilson shut it down without hesitation. Accountability, it seems, didn’t make it onto her inauguration to-do list.

Instead, Wilson rushed to social media to defend childcare providers and condemn “harassment,” framing the issue as one of victimhood rather than verification. Never mind that similar allegations in Minnesota triggered a massive federal investigation and a $185 million funding freeze. And never mind that Washington outlets like The Center Square have been looking into similar concerns locally.

This is the same political ecosystem that welcomed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to a Seattle fundraiser for Gov. Bob Ferguson, where he brushed off fraud concerns as “demonization.” Now, Seattle’s mayor is following the same script: dismiss first, investigate never.

Meanwhile, Wilson’s office couldn’t even be bothered to respond to requests for comment. Transparency apparently takes a backseat when it’s inconvenient.

Republicans aren’t buying it. State GOP Chair Jim Walsh bluntly called out the refusal to investigate, and Rep. Michael Baumgartner took the issue to the federal level, demanding a program-integrity review to make sure Washington taxpayers aren’t funding scams instead of childcare.

His message was simple and devastating: Minnesota is what happens when government writes checks without asking questions. Fraud thrives when oversight disappears.

But in Seattle under Democratic leadership, even asking about fraud is the real offense. Read more at Center Square.

First It’s “Just the Millionaires.” Then It’s Everyone Else

Washington Democrats are once again dusting off the “millionaire tax” pitch, this time with Gov. Bob Ferguson fully on board. The plan would slap a 9.9% income tax on earnings over $1 million, a dramatic shift for a state that has never had an income tax. And, as always, they promise it will only hit “the rich.”

We’ve heard that before.

Ferguson claims fewer than 0.5% of residents would pay it and that it would raise $3 billion a year. There’s just one problem: it won’t fix the current budget crisis, won’t bring in money until at least 2029, and will almost certainly get tied up in court. So Democrats are proposing a massive new tax that doesn’t even solve the problem they say justifies it.

House Speaker Laurie Jinkins says the goal is to make the tax system “more fair,” arguing the current system is too regressive. But Republicans are cutting through the spin. As Rep. Drew Stokesbary put it, it might be millionaires today, but it will be the middle class tomorrow. That’s not paranoia — that’s history.

Income taxes never stay targeted. Once the machinery is built, once the bureaucracy is funded, and once lawmakers get addicted to the revenue, the definition of “rich” magically shrinks. Inflation does the rest. Suddenly, a tax meant for CEOs starts catching small business owners, dual-income families, and retirees.

Democrats also promise some of the money will go toward tax relief for others. Notice the wording: some. Not all. Not most. Just enough to sell the idea while the rest feeds a growing state budget.

This is the classic playbook:
Start with “only the millionaires.”
Build the tax system.
Expand the budget.
Then quietly expand the tax.

Washington doesn’t have an income tax because voters have rejected it over and over again. Now Democrats are trying to sneak one in by branding it as a fairness measure, even though it won’t help today’s deficit and won’t stay limited tomorrow.

It never stops where they say it will. It never has. Read more at Axios.

Emily Randall Goes National… for All the Wrong Reasons

Congresswoman Emily Randall didn’t just miss the point at a House Oversight Committee hearing this week — she put herself in the national spotlight for doing so. The Washington Democrat is now making headlines not for leadership or solutions, but for turning a serious welfare fraud discussion into a bizarre political rant.

Instead of addressing concerns about the massive Minnesota fraud scandal, Randall suggested the entire issue is driven by xenophobia and prejudice. Apparently, asking where taxpayer dollars went is now considered a character flaw.

She then pivoted away from fraud entirely and argued that more attention should be focused on “White men” and President Trump. It was a remarkable display of deflection: when facts are inconvenient, change the target.

The Trump Administration quickly responded, calling her comments unhinged and accusing her of defending people who steal from American taxpayers. Whether one agrees with the tone or not, the reaction underscored how far off-track her remarks had gone.

In trying to reframe a fraud investigation as a social justice debate, Randall managed to do the opposite of what elected officials are supposed to do: demand transparency and protect taxpayers. Instead, she embarrassed herself on a national stage by showing that for Democrats, defending a narrative matters more than defending the public’s money. Read more at Seattle Red.

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