Gov. Martin O'Malley says his budget plan for the next fiscal year aims to boost jobs and protect the state from the financial uncertainty caused by what he described as a potentially self-destructive Congress that will consider deep spending cuts in the next several weeks.
O'Malley said he would increase Maryland's Rainy Day Fund from 5 percent to 6 percent of the state's $16 billion general fund. He's enlarging the state's fiscal cushion in anticipation of financial negotiations in Washington that have yet to play out. The increase of $153 million or more would create a Rainy Day Fund of about $921 million. Altogether, the Democratic governor's plan includes leaves the state with about $1.1 billion in cash reserves to help adjust to federal cuts.
"The reason for doing that is a safeguard against, you know, the hara-kiri Congress down the street and what they might do to our economy because of ideology," O'Malley said at a news conference.
Republicans, however, said the O'Malley administration has relied on federal money to balance the state's books for too long.
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