California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget intended to close an estimated $46.8 billion deficit, but multiple Republican lawmakers say they were left out of negotiations. 

Lawmakers passed the budget Wednesday after an agreement between Newsom and legislative leaders in which both sides made concessions and gained some wins.

The budget aims to close the deficit through $16 billion in spending cuts and temporarily raising taxes on some businesses.

Newsom praised the budget as “responsible” and said it prepared “for the future while investing in foundational programs that benefit millions of Californians every day.” 

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“Thanks to careful stewardship of the budget over the past few years, we’re able to meet this moment while protecting our progress on housing, homelessness, education, health care and other priorities that matter deeply to Californians,” Newsom said. 

But some Republicans say they were left out of negotiations altogether. Republican Senator Roger Niello of Fair Oaks, Vice-Chair of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, derided the budget as “the majority party’s budget.” He told Fox News Digital he only learned of the budget in an X post. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom joined NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024. (Screenshot/NBC)

“This budget certainly reflects the majority party’s priorities, but it ignores the priorities of eight million residents of this state because none of my Republican colleagues were involved in development of the budget,” Niello said. 

The Republican lawmaker also called the budget package “nominally balanced but not sustainable.” 

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“It fails to rein in the past decade of irresponsible growth in government spending,” Niello said. “It relies on budget gimmicks, draws down our savings, and saddles future generations with debt.”

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones of San Diego argued that California residents who are represented by a Republican in the legislature have effectively been denied a voice. 

“Each senator, whether Democrat or Republican, in California represents almost a million people and those million people each should have a voice on what happens in the legislature regarding the budget,” Niello said. 

He accused his Democratic colleagues of playing “shadow games with accounting” rather than “being responsible with California’s checkbook.” 

State Capitol Aerial view of California Capitol in Sacramento. Lawmakers on Friday advanced a bill that would allow killer serving life without parole to petition for re-sentencing.  (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“They shifted, swept and shuffled money around, stealing it from disabled kids and taking money from a host of necessary services to fund unneeded social experiments and pet projects,” he said. “It’s unfathomable. But it’s real.”

The deficit was about $32 billion in 2023 before growing even bigger this year, with more deficits projected for the future in the nation’s most populous state. 

Saturday’s signing came just two years after Newsom and Democratic lawmakers were boasting about surpluses that totaled more than $100 billion, the product of hundreds of billions of dollars of federal COVID-19 aid and a progressive tax code that produced a windfall of revenue from the state’s wealthiest residents.

But those revenue spikes did not last as inflation slowed the economy, contributing to rising unemployment and a slowdown in the tech industry that has driven much of the state’s growth. The Newsom administration then badly miscalculated how much money California would have last year after a seven-month delay in the tax filing deadline.

The budget includes an agreement that Newsom and lawmakers will try to change the state constitution to let California put more money in reserve for future shortfalls.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office but did not hear back.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The highly anticipated first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign averaged 51.3 million television viewers Thursday, far below the viewership the first time President Biden and former President Trump faced off in 2020.

The summer date for the event staged by CNN in Atlanta was likely a main factor in the Nielsen figure being significantly lower than the 73 million viewers who watched in late September 2020, when presidential debates are traditionally held.

Viewers also may be weary of the candidates, who both have low favorability ratings with the public.

The data does not include online viewing, which was likely substantial as the debate was available across numerous streaming platforms. CNN said its own streaming properties peaked at 2.3 million simultaneous live views at 9:47 p.m. Eastern.

The event itself was often a brutal viewing experience as Biden appeared unfocused and lost his train of thought at times. The audience also was subjected to a multitude of misstatements from Trump about his economic record, abortion, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and other topics.

The showdown was produced by CNN and moderated by its anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, the first time a single network had complete editorial control over a general election presidential debate. A video feed of the proceedings was provided to other broadcast and cable outlets to simulcast.

CNN took some fire on social media and in post-debate critiques over its decision not to fact-check the candidates in real time, which was largely seen as an advantage to Trump and his ability to flood the zone with falsehoods.

The debate was held in a studio without an audience or candidate entourages, creating a sterile atmosphere over 90 minutes.

But Biden’s stunningly lackluster performance — considered the worst since President Reagan struggled through his first debate with Walter Mondale in 1984 — was the story of the night. Even in the Democrat-friendly confines of MSNBC, the dominant theme during post-debate analyses was whether the party will consider replacing the 81-year-old Bidenon the ticket.

CNN’s ability to put its brand name on the event helped on the ratings front. The network averaged 9.53 million viewers to itself — a 5% improvement over its audience for the first 2020 debate.

Fox News, the ratings leader in cable news, finished in second place on the night with 9.3 million viewers. Even though Fox News cooperated on CNN’s terms for carrying the simulcast and promoted it heavily, its conservative commentators frequently told viewers that Tapper and Bash were biased against Trump and that he would not get a fair shake. They changed their tune after the event.

ABC was the most-watched broadcast network for the event with 9.21 million viewers, followed by NBC (5.17 million), CBS (4.8 million), MSNBC (4.1 million), the Fox broadcast network (3.48 million), Telemundo (829,000), Univision (704,000), Fox Business Network (372,000) and HLN (251,000).

Former Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel — who is 94 years old — wondered whether President Biden belongs in a nursing home instead of the White House following last week’s debate disaster.

“I have never been more shocked and embarrassed by any presidential debate than I was last Thursday,” Rangel, who served in Congress from 1971 to 2017, said Sunday on 770 WABC radio’s “The Cats Roundtable.” 

“One [candidate is] a convicted felon who has no respect for the truth, for morality. The other seemed so damned confused I didn’t even know whether he knew where the hell he was at in terms of responding to the moderator.”

Rangel, a Democrat, told host John Catsimatidis he “would not object” to both candidates taking cognitive tests to determine their fitness. Trump is 78, just three years younger than Biden.

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“It’s clear that Biden was shaky in responding … One has to think about what happens in [the next] four years.”

Biden’s debate performance was so troubling that voters have to be reminded that Trump could be sentenced to prison time for his conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Rangel said.

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He said in most states Republicans and Democrats will vote for their party nominee despite their flaws, and the election comes down to seven battleground states.  

New Yorkers watch the 2024 Presidential Debate between Trump and Biden in New York City, on June 27, 2024. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“If Trump is in jail, Republicans will vote for him. If Biden is in a nursing home, [the Democrats] are going to vote for him,” he said. 

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But Rangel wasn’t ready to abandon Biden, noting he was good on the stump the day after the debate.

Former President using his hands to convey his point at the debate (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

“He was so on point, so articulate. He was better than he was at the State of the Union [address]. And I wondered, ‘Where the hell was that Joe Biden [during the debate]?’” he said.

Biden intends to seek re-election despite calls from the liberal New York Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and even some Democrats that it’s time for him to step aside for the good of the party and the country.

Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., questioned whether President Biden belongs in a nursing home following the debate with Trump. (Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images)

During the debate, Biden frequently stumbled over his answers and at one point froze and then said “I beat Medicare.”

Rangel, during the latter part of 46 years in Congress, struggled with his physical health but appeared mentally sharp.