Maryland Republicans on Tuesday blamed Democratic policies for the state’s projected $1.4 billion deficit during a Senate debate over Gov. Wes Moore’s budget proposal, adding that their plan to close the gap is insufficient.

“We have to show people we’re serious about fiscal responsibility and discipline,” Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready, who represents Carroll and Frederick County, said on the Senate floor. “The taxpayers of Maryland have watched the news where they see audit after audit coming … and they’re going, ‘What am I paying for?’”

Lawmakers in the chamber met for nearly five hours, most of which was spent debating on and voting to adopt more than 230 amendments the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee put forward to the governor’s budget proposal. All amendments passed.

Republicans said they’re hyperaware that passing GOP priorities is a fool’s errand in a Democratic supermajority, but still pushed to include their perspectives. Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, who represents the Eastern Shore, said his party takes “the responsibility of a two-party system seriously, even when the numbers are not on our side.”

“Too often over the past two years, major policy decisions were rushed or not fully vetted, and we are now seeing the negative consequences,” Hershey wrote in a Tuesday text to The Baltimore Sun. “Today’s budget debate [was] the right forum to highlight those impacts, especially where Marylanders are hurting most with vehicle registration fees, energy costs, and taxes, and to put forward better solutions.”

Last week, The Sun asked Senate committee chair Guy Guzzone to note items where Democrats and Republicans could converge on the governor’s budget proposal. Guzzone maintained Republicans have always had a seat at the table, but he insisted they haven’t put forward a comprehensive alternative this session. Four of the committee’s 13 members are Republican.

“Individual members have lots of ideas on our committee and within this body. We work with them all the time to try to get things adopted that are of consequence to them,” Guzzone said. “I’m sure they’re going to like the fact that there are no tax increases and no fee increases, [but] I don’t want to speak for them.”

One of the sharpest points of contention Tuesday was over a Republican proposal to cut state spending across the board.

Frederick and Washington County Sen. Paul Corderman, one of the Republicans on the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, introduced an amendment to reduce all state agency budgets by 5% — a move that would drastically scale back how much agencies spend on personnel costs.

The amendment failed along party lines, but not before Republicans used the debate to blast Democrats’ fiscal policy.

“It really is just budget sorcery because while there are no tax relief increases in your budget, there is also no tax relief,” Corderman said as he introduced his amendment. “We’ve asked a lot of our citizens over the last couple of years, a whole lot — a lot more than 5%.”

Ready echoed that argument, saying the proposal was intended to force government to share in the financial strain facing residents.

“We’re talking about trying to give a little back — to make government have to take a haircut when we’ve asked taxpayers [to pay more in taxes] again and again and again,” Ready said. “And raised [taxes] too on the so-called high earners — the people who invest in the job creation quite often.”

Democrats warned the cuts could have far-reaching consequences. Guzzone, who represents parts of Howard County, said a blanket reduction could jeopardize funding for core services, including SNAP, Medicaid and state financial aid programs.

Beyond the proposed spending cuts, Ready said his party’s other amendments were designed to have a direct impact on state residents’ finances. “Marylanders are feeling these costs everywhere — at the [Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration], in their utility bills and in everyday expenses,” Ready said in a Tuesday news release following the Senate floor proceedings.

Republicans proposed nine amendments to the governor’s budget, eight of which were rejected along party lines. The only measure to win bipartisan support, proposed by Baltimore and Harford County Republican Sen. J.B. Jennings, updated eligibility for historic vehicles by establishing a rolling 25-year standard.

“I thought it was a good-spirited debate. A lot of good amendments were offered. We knew that any amendment that altered funding would probably meet opposition,” Jennings said in a Tuesday text message to The Sun. “My amendment was one that was more of a correction from actions taken last year.”

Despite the outcome, Republicans said the debate underscored broader concerns about the state’s fiscal trajectory. “We put real solutions on the table,” Hershey said in a statement. “The majority had a choice: stand with taxpayers or stick with the status quo. They made their decision.”

The caucus warned that without more significant changes to spending, the state’s long-term fiscal outlook could worsen, pointing to projections of growing structural deficits in the coming years.

“Avoiding tough, often unpopular decisions today only guarantees bigger costs tomorrow,” Hershey said.

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