Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen says state officials are going to have to make some extremely difficult choices in order to balance the budget. He says the slow first quarter tax collections indicate that this is indeed the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression. Bredesen says some very serious cuts will be necessary in order to overcome the projected 800-million-dollar budget shortfall. Right now his goal is to preserve funding for pre-k-through-12 education if possible. Bredesen adds that the problem is further compounded by uncertainty about when the national economy may rebound.
