On the surface it would seem the state House of Representatives’ passing a state budget proposal and moving the process to the state Senate is a step forward.

But we have to agree with state Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren, who disagreed with both the amount of time Republicans were given to review the proposal as well as undecided issues that make the House plan essentially useless.

Rapp’s first criticism is purely political. The party in the minority often gets short-shrift in the budget-making process. Republicans in the New York state Legislature levy the same complaint year after year. And while we agree with Republicans’ point, the only way to remedy the issue is to pick up more seats in the state House of Representatives. Unfortunately for rural Republicans, life in the minority of the state House means we will find ourselves on the wrong end of votes like the state budget bill.

But Rapp’s second criticism is the one worthy of attention that we’re sure won’t escape the attention of state senators – the budget simply spends too much money without corresponding revenues. As Rapp noted, the budget passed by the state House is unsustainable without significant economic growth. That means the state Senate must either cut spending from the House budget, raise taxes or find policies that will boost economic growth and drive state revenue growth at the same time. Of course, raising taxes at a time when people are already paying more for everything else should be a non-starter for the Senate. Passing a budget that relies on the state surplus should also be a non-starter. And it’s hard to count on economic growth to fix budget issues.

Basically, Democrats in the state House of Representatives got to fourth down without agreement on a real budget and passed an incomplete budget – essentially punting the ball to the state Senate and putting the ball in Senate Republicans’ hands. We’re no closer to a budget than we were before the House vote last week. That won’t change until there is real compromise on issues like education funding and energy policy.