BY SARAH ROSS

SALEM- After the legislature used stimulus dollars and other federal aid to balance the budget in February’s special session, Governor Ted Kulongoski is now turning to Congress again to fill remaining gaps.

Kulongoski wrote a letter to the state’s Congressional delegation urging the passage of two bills in Congress that would extend expiring medical assistance and bring more aid for educational jobs.

“But these cost-saving measures [budget cuts and salary freezes]will fall far short of covering the $560 million shortfall Oregon faces right now,” Kulongoski wrote. “With little left in our budget reserves, federal dollars will continue to be critical in our efforts to fund schools and serve the increasing numbers of Oregonians relying on the state for health care and other human services.”

Following the discovery of the State’s $577 million shortfall in the 2009-2011 biennium, Kulongoski asked each state agency to send him their plans for cutting 9% from each of their budgets for the time remaining in this biennium. These plans were returned to the Governor on Wednesday.

“Today’s plans represent the next step in this difficult process,” said Kulongoski. “There are no good answers and no easy solutions to the current shortfall. With a shortfall of this magnitude, we are limited in our options to balance the budget – and the longer we wait, the more painful and deep the cuts.”

Kulongoski is expected to finalize cuts in the budget for agencies toward the end of June when the Department of Administrative Services will “work with agencies to ‘unschedule’ funds in accordance with the 9 percent reductions.”

Speaker of the House Dave Hunt, D-Clackamas, released a statement saying the budget cut process will begin Wednesday and continue during the Legislative Emergency Board meeting on June 15. The June meeting will be used for legislators to meet with the Legislative Fiscal Office to go over the budget cuts and their expected impacts.

“The road ahead is tough. But just as we managed to fill a $4 billion budget hole in 2009, we’ll find a balanced path through this latest challenge,” said Speaker Hunt. “And we’ll do our best to continue creating jobs and protecting core services as we meet our constitutional obligation for a balanced budget.”

House Minority Leader Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg, issued a response saying that balancing the budget will require “difficult and perhaps even unpopular choices.”

The Governor himself acknowledged that there will be layoffs and cuts in services to get the budget balanced again.

Instead of bringing the Legislature into a special session to rebalance the budget, the Governor decided to use his “allotment authority” to lower state spending. In addition to asking for a 9% cut across the board on agency spending, he also extended pay freezes for management and non-union government workers.

Still, House Republicans are not convinced by the Governor’s plan to act alone in fixing the budget.

“The Legislature can’t afford to wait for ‘further analysis’ or yet another taxpayer-funded bailout from the federal government,” complained Rep. Hanna. “We should immediately convene into special session, make the tough decisions, and re-prioritize spending to protect the most essential programs in education, public safety and human services from devastating cuts.”

The biggest cuts presented in these plans came from the Department of Education, with over $258 million in cuts, and the Department of Human Services, with over $158 million. These cuts would be so large because these are also the two biggest state agencies.