“I don’t think anybody feels celebratory about the outcome, about the budget and the revenue that we passed this year, but I do think that given the magnitude of the challenges that we started session with, [there’s a] sense of relief.” – House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle.
“I think [it was an] unmitigated disaster for the people of the state of Washington. We’ve made everything more expensive with additional taxes — food, gas, housing, childcare, healthcare — you name it.” – Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia.
In wide-ranging interviews this week on Inside Olympia, Fitzgibbon and Braun offered sharply contrasting assessments of the 2025 legislative session, the state’s $78 billion budget, and Gov. Bob Ferguson’s first months in office.
Fitzgibbon credited Gov. Ferguson with a thoughtful approach to the budget and praised him for signing the plan with only minor vetoes. “I was definitely appreciative of all the work that he spent going through the budget.”
While Braun said he believed Ferguson “was genuine” in his desire to control spending, he concluded, “I think he failed.” Braun argued that Ferguson “let himself get boxed into a corner,” ultimately signing off on billions in new taxes.
The two leaders disagreed on school funding and whether the bill giving districts greater local property tax authority makes the state vulnerable to a second McCleary-style lawsuit. According to Braun, “You can’t go to a school district across our state and say, ‘Can you show me any definitive way that you’re not using levies for basic education?’ They’ll say, ‘No way, I can’t. We’re using it for basic education.’”
Fitzgibbon responded that the state continues to increase both aggregate and per-student K–12 funding, and emphasized that enrichment levies are voter-approved and supported by equalization funds. He dismissed Republican claims as political spin: “I think that’s folks trying to spin some politics out of a legitimately difficult situation.”
Both lawmakers agreed looming federal Medicaid cuts could force Washington into a special session. Fitzgibbon called that possibility “a terrible outcome” Braun conceded, “I think we should all be concerned [but] I think there’s a lot of fear mongering out there,” adding federal reforms could reduce fraud and cross-enrollment.