Lawmakers to start chopping at state budget

State lawmakers have all but committed to returning to Columbia early to figure out how to trim $500 million from the South Carolina's budget to make sure critical programs don't get mandatory cuts.

Read more stories on this subject in our state budget topic page. Lawmakers will spend the five days from Monday, October 17, to that Friday on figuring out what needs to be cut to strike 7.1% from the state's $7 billion budget.

The Post and Courier quoted Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, as saying: "It's going to take five legislative days to pull this off."

I'd lambast him for thinking 5 days was a long time to handle $500 million if our federal officials hadn't just spent a week on how to spend $700 billion.

Hop over to The Post and Courier for lots more on how they're planning on doing this an what could be cut locally.