Santorum: Don’t Bail Out California—Or Any Other State


Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.)

Wednesday, February 02, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey

(CNSNews.com) - Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.), who says he is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination, told CNSNews.com that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives should not approve a bailout for California or any other state.

"You can’t bailout one," Santorum told CNSNews.com's "Online With Terry Jeffrey." "If you bailout one, then Katie bar the door. Every state with a deficit is going to come for money of which we don't have."

Last fall, California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office said that the state faced annual budget deficits of about $20 billion per year for each of the next five years. Many other states face similar fiscal problems, driven by Medicaid costs and the pay and pension packages of state employees.

Santorum told CNSNews.com that both states and cities should be made to deal with their own fiscal problems locally and not be given federal bailouts.

“One of the things that I would insist upon, hopefully for this Congress, is no bailouts of the states, no bail outs for these municipalities,â€