House Speaker Bryce Edgmon explained that the Legislature is in a pickle because the House Finance Committee has not released the budget to the Rules Committee, and thus it can’t make it to the floor for a vote.
The Legislature is at a critical juncture, he said. The operating budget should already be in the hands of the Senate, but “now seems to be stuck in no-man’s land. The budget has not been transferred from the Finance Committeeee to the Rules Committee … Unfortunately because of extenuating circumstances in a whole realm of things, you could say everything from possible federal budget impacts to a global downturn and commodity prices, oil prices sort of slipping and sliding underneath us, and as crude is going down almost 14-15% in the last several days, not to mention that the spring revenue forecast that came out in March, which seems like an eternity ago, already really undercut our position from a year ago when oil was forecast to be $78 a barrel. Now, we’re looking at $68 a barrel going forward,” he said, as he introduced a press conference made up of leaders he handpicked when he became Speaker.
“And guess what? That $68 a barrel may be optimistic going forward in FY 26,” Edgmon continued.
Then he continued to talk about the need for more education funding and he blamed the governor for submitting a budget that has a legally mandated statutory Permanent Fund dividend, the House Republicans, the Senate, and seemingly everyone but himself, the leader of the Democrat majority.
“And we’d like to talk to you about that and be really honest with you and have the conversation that, ladies and gentlemen, we’re all in a pickle,” Edgmon said.
“It’s not just the House majority. It’s the House minority. It’s the governor. It’s the Senate majority. It’s the Senate minority,” he said, and continued to take no responsibility. “We are stymied because of the narrowness of the makeup of the House chamber.”
Speaker Edgmon then blamed the House minority for his majority’s inability to move forward on all its wants.
“I’ve [had] a number of conversations with minority members. Myself as well as others that have a concept … sort of set the pathway for working together. But at this juncture in house, you know, day 78, which is technically two-thirds of the way through the session … We have not had a cooperative relationship.”
The blame game continued:
“We have not, back in my memory since the early 80s, had such a sharply divided Finance committee with such difficult circumstances in front of them and it’s been a long time since we’ve had a House chamber that’s been closely divided — 21 and 19 — where one member essentially has veto power. We have a problem in front of us, folks, and that’s the purpose we’re here to talk with you about, and there are a number of pathways forward But the time is very limited and I’m gonna close before I turn it over to the Rules chair to once again implore the House minority.”
The budget imbalance began when the governor submitted a budget that was not fully funded.
But then, Rep. Andy Josephson, who chairs the Finance Committee, presented a revised budget that was also not funded, and he forgot to remove a portion of the Permanent Fund dividend. Now the budget requires rural members like Rep. Neal Foster and Nellie Jimmie to vote to strip a major portion of the dividend from their own constituents. They won’t do that. Rep. Josephson said that because they are rural, they get a pass.
The problem is not that the budget hasn’t been voted out of Finance, because it has. The problem is that the co-chairs won’t give the budget to Rep. Louise Stutes, who chairs Rules.
But Edgmon says it’s the House minority Republicans who are the problem.
Hence, the Edgmon Pickle.
