The Department of Justice suffers one of the deepest cuts in the republican plan to balance next year’s budget. The Attorney General’s office budget would be cut 25 percent under the plan, which republicans intend to pass next week in a one-day special session. Bob Brammer, a spokesman for the Attorney General, says the proposal doesn’t just cut to the bone, it draws blood.The Republican cuts, two-point-five million dollars, are nearly a quarter of the A-G’s budget, and he says they’re larger than those in other agencies. He says it’ll be hard to fulfill all the tasks of the office, from criminal prosecution cases to crime-victim assistance. The G-O-P plan calls for trimming nearly two-point-five million dollars from the department’s ten-point-seven million-dollar budget. Brammer says the office has already suffered serious cuts, has left positions unfilled and the attorney staff is “way down,” and he says the cuts are far greater than just about any other agency in state government. The agency’s headed by democrat Tom Miller, who will face republican David Millage, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, in the fall election.
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