OLYMPIA, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Washington state House Democrats pushed through a $77.8 billion operating budget late Monday night that they say addresses a budget shortfall but keeps services at current levels.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Timm Ormsby spoke on the House floor before the vote and said budget writers’ priorities were food, shelter and health.

“We didn’t take services away from anyone. We had to maintain the services that we had brought forward through critical investments in the past,” Ormsby said.

The budget does delay some programs and spending increases that lawmakers have passed in previous sessions. Some revenue measures will also have to be done to make it balance out. It now moves to the Senate which has passed its own higher-cost proposal that would use up the state’s rainy day fund next year.

Gov. Bob Ferguson addressed the budget proposals on Tuesday and said that both have good ideas but also have two major flaws.

“First, they each propose far too much in taxes. Second, they both rely on a wealth tax which is novel, untested, difficult to implement and—most importantly, for purposes adopting a sustainable budget—will face an immediate challenge in court,” Ferguson said.

He says it’s imperative for negotiators to fix these issues as the projected budget shortfall has only grown and a budget must be adopted by the end of the session on April 27.