“In these tough times for our families, businesses and state, I appreciate the hard work of the members of House and Senate to craft a responsible budget and their willingness to work with me to make the tough choices necessary to cut state spending.

“Like my proposed budget and the House budget, the Senate budget cuts programs and reduces state costs, including making the tough decision to move forward with layoffs.  

“It includes my proposals to  reform and contain the cost structure of state government, including closing the Laconia prison, closing the Tobey School, reducing health care costs for state employees and retirees, reorganizing boards and commissions and allowing the Liquor Commission to run like a business. These ideas will help reduce costs now and into the future.

“There is much common ground between the budgets presented by the House, Senate and me. I will continue to work with lawmakers over the next several weeks to reconcile our various proposals and to ensure we have a state budget that recognizes the tough economic time that our state faces and meets our responsibilities  to public safety, to education, to public health and to all the people of New Hampshire.”