Affordability First: A Budget for the Working Class

Affordability First:

A Budget for the Working Class

A No New Taxes Plan for Stability, Accountability, and Real Priorities

Promises Made, Promises Broken

Washingtonians pay the price when Olympia breaks its promises — higher taxes, fewer services, and a government that grows without delivering results.

Gov. Ferguson promised:

  • Reform government, not defend it: No lessons were learned, no practices were changed, and the same status quo budgeting that caused the problem was left in place.
  • To right-size government: Spending grew out of control — faster than revenue, population, or inflation. Most went to paying bureaucrats, not schools, healthcare, or public safety.
  • Tax increases as a last resort: The largest tax hike in state history passed amid an affordability crisis hurting working-class Washingtonians.
  • Transparency: The budget relied on one-time funds and accounting tricks.

Washingtonians deserve better than broken promises.

How We Got Here

Washington’s state budget has grown twice as fast as household incomes over the past decade. This created permanent deficits and forced families to shoulder the burden.

Key factors:

  • Spending more than collected – Four budgets in a row, we spent billions more than we were forecasted to take in. In the last budget, for every 75 cents we saved, we spent a new dollar.
  • Phantom revenue – Lawmakers assumed unrealistic growth that never materialized and used that to spend more with money we never had.
  • Pushing costs into the future – Major programs were kicked down the road years beyond the budget period, imperiling future taxpayers.
  • Using temporary funds for permanent programs – Guarantees future deficits.

If most households doubled their spending in ten years, they would go bankrupt. State government did— and calls it success.

A Better Way Forward

House Republicans propose reforms that stabilize the budget, restore essential services, and put people first.

  1. Break the Spending Addiction
  • No new taxes: We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and the people are taxed enough. Require a 2/3 majority vote to raise taxes.
  • Modern spending limits: Tie growth to inflation + population.
  • Tax Relief Account: Surplus funds returned to taxpayers, not bureaucracy.
  • Accountability: Zero-based budgeting to account for every dollar, and third-party audits. Limiting spending and taxes means people prosper before big government expands.
  1. Restore Medicaid Access
  • Streamline eligibility documentation to ensure no one falls through the cracks.
  • Repeal artificial government pricing to lower premiums by $1,400 a year.
  • Restore the $782 million in Medicaid funding cut by Democrats last session.
  • Increase funding for hospitals on the verge of financial collapse

Democrats gutted Medicaid — Republicans will save it.

  1. Protect Vulnerable Washingtonians
  • Protect food assistance for seniors, foster kids, teens, veterans, and the homeless.
  • Maintain work requirements for able-bodied adults.

We protect public dollars and the people who truly need us the most.

  1. Restore Essential Programs
  • Pediatric Interim Care Center: Restore care for drug-addicted babies.
  • Treehouse: Restore support for foster youth education.
  • Wildfire prevention: Fully fund wildfire prevention efforts.
  • Law enforcement: A real $100 million to hire more law enforcement.
  • Lawsuit Settlements Account: Make the state pay its legal bills.
  1. Core Efficiencies and Savings
  • Reduce bloated management while helping front-line workers.
  • Eliminate free undocumented immigrant healthcare. Washingtonians come first.
  • Realign higher-education staffing with student enrollment to lower tuition.
  • Adjust government-employee benefits toward private-sector norms.
  • More tax relief for Washingtonians using surplus carbon tax dollars.
  • Suspend programs plagued with controversy until oversight is in place.

Every dollar wasted by Democrats hurts the working class and makes life unaffordable.

Conclusion

Washington families are struggling with rising costs, yet budgets grow larger without delivering results.

This plan offers a responsible alternative:

  • No new taxes, rein in reckless spending, and tax relief.
  • Strengthen healthcare and food security for Washington citizens.
  • Restore critical programs, especially for our most vulnerable people.
  • Budgeting based on results, accountability, and core priorities.

Families and communities deserve stability, affordability, and results.

Washington can move in the right direction — with a budget that works for the people, today and tomorrow.

Rep. Travis Couture
Ranking Member, House Appropriations Committee

2026 Supplemental Budget Plan Executive Summary
By Rep. Travis Couture

Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee

WASHINGTON HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS

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