Governor Pillen wants to cut five hundred million dollars from the state’s budget in 2026.

Good luck with that, sir.

Cutting half a billion dollars from Nebraska’s budget amounts to 10% of what the state spends annually. As state senator and second congressional district candidate, John Cavanaugh told KETV, “Cutting ten percent of the state’s budget is very hard; otherwise it would have been done already.”

State Senator Merv Riepe acknowledged that it’s a pretty big bite and a lot to try to chew at one time.

Do you remember when the governor called the Unicameral back into session to cut property taxes? Do you remember how he called the special session without offering a workable plan to get it done?

Well, a similar thing happened here. When the governor announced his plan, he didn’t announce how he was going to do it.

I commend the governor for setting a goal, but where are those cuts going to be? Will he propose more cuts in Medicaid? What about cutting the funding for the public schools, the police, foster care, and other children’s services? Maybe we can cut the funding for road improvements, the prisons, or the universities?

I’d be willing to bet he won’t propose cutting the money the state gives our farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural industries.

Governor Pillen announced his plan after signing legislation that will cut back on the state’s bureaucracy. He eliminated commissions like the Potato Board, which was started decades ago to promote Nebraska’s potato business.

This commission didn’t do a very good job because I didn’t know Nebraska even had a potato business. But we are the 10th largest potato-producing state in the country.

Who knew? Corn and soybeans get all the press.

He also signed LB376 into law. That got rid of outdated reports that the Department of Health and Human Services had to fill out.

And while I commend the governor for his efforts to streamline government, the money saved isn’t even close to the figure he wants to reach.

I understand that Governor Pillen’s goal of cutting five hundred million dollars from the state’s budget is just the start of negotiations. You ask for the moon and settle on landing on a cumulus cloud.

Of course, the governor’s plan to cut all this money from the budget is to make it easier to get the property tax cuts he wants to see. I’d be naïve to think otherwise.

But can he make enough cuts to reach that goal without hurting other important public services? That remains to be seen. As Senator Cavanaugh put it, if it were easy, it would have been done by now.

I like to bitch about property taxes as much as the next guy, but when you consider the lower cost of living in Nebraska vs almost any other state, it’s not that bad. A three-hundred-thousand-dollar home in Omaha might cost you over a million in a place like California. Imagine the property taxes on a million-dollar home, even with a lower levy, it’s going to be a lot more money out of your pocket.

In the age of artificial intelligence and better technology, I have no doubt that all levels of government can be downsized, but it needs to be done in an intelligent manner. We can’t be stupid about it and do DOGE-style massive cuts that need to be walked back a week later.

Governor Pillen wants to run for reelection. For the life of me, I can’t think of what accomplishments he can run on. No fake meat in Nebraska? The whole transgender bathroom thing again? Maybe his campaign slogan can be “We haven’t F’d things up too bad.”

He’s got a year to get these cuts done. A year to use the cuts to reduce property taxes. A year to show the voters something he hasn’t shown us already.

Good luck governor. I hope you can find five hundred million dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse. I hope you can make responsible cuts that won’t hurt the average citizen.

You might be able to get it done, but it sure isn’t going to be easy.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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