[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's chickens are coming home to roost on Wednesday, when he'll announce a budget deficit somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 billion caused by his tax-cutting actions of the last few years. Rumors are swirling in the Capitol about what action he'll take. But the bottom line will be whether he chooses to lead or wimp out.

Here are some of his options:

by jsw [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

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[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Governor to Cut $700 Million More From Budget

By Marty D. Omoto
Director/Organizer
California Disability Community Action Network

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

Despite threats that it may cost him his Senate seat, Republican Abel Maldanado broke ranks with his fellow party members and cast a ballot for the California state budget bill and all the associated traler bills that relate to it. These bills did not pass even with 25 Democrats all voting for it and Maldanado making the 26th vote because 27 votes are needed to meet the two-thirds required by the California State Constitution.

Maldanado said: "I think a vote for this a budget is for fiscal responsibility. If I lose my election for a balanced budget that doesn't raise taxes, than that is a price I am willing to pay."

Governor Schwarzenegger issued a statement tonight after the Senate failed to pass a budget as he had urged, and revealed that he had promised Senate Republicans that he would use his “blue pencil” authority—under which he can eliminate entirely or reduce any item in the budget—to reduce the operating deficit to zero. This had been the stated goal of the 15 Republicans in the Senate as to the budget itself. Despite continued rhetoric, this removed the fiscal fig leaf from the Republicans’ intransigence, as Maldanado said when he announced he was voting for the budget.