Rhode Island House Minority Leader Chippendale Comments on Governor McKee’s refusal to veto the FY26 Budget
GOV. DAN MC KEE
Providence, RI – Rhode Island House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale offers the following statement in regard to Governor McKee’s announcement that he will let the FY26 Budget become law without his signature:
While I agree with Governor McKee that the FY26 budget includes far too many tax and fee increases — his stated reason for refusing to sign it — I can’t ignore the fact that his own budget proposal in January was packed with similar increases and new taxes. It is still an unsustainable, ridiculously high $14B budget. I voted against this budget precisely because it places an undue burden on Rhode Island residents and businesses.
For the governor, a well-known tax-and-spend Democrat, to now criticize the Speaker’s budget on those grounds is transparently political – especially given his dismal approval ratings and looming 2026 re-election campaign. If he truly felt this budget was unacceptable and was acting on principle, he would have vetoed it, not staged a PR move.
Minority- Leader Michael W. Chippemdale
It takes genuine leadership to make the hard decisions to right-size our budget.