Thread: Schwarzenegger Presses U.S. for More Aid for Needy CA.

Schwarzenegger Presses U.S. for More Aid for Needy California

Published: December 23, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken advantage of the holiday lull before the next state budget storm to serve notice on the federal government that he will come looking for billions more in aid.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, also hinted that he might extend furloughs for state workers beyond next summer and revive a contentious plan to allow oil drilling off the Santa Barbara County coast. Budget advisers have also discussed paring corporate tax breaks that Republican lawmakers have insisted on.

The governor is expected to unveil a proposal to right the state’s dismal finances in early January. But pieces of the plan are trickling out, including a threat to severely crimp or eliminate the state’s welfare program and services to disabled and elderly residents if the federal government does not come through with help.

Administration officials, in preliminary discussions with state lawmakers and other Sacramento officials on how to close a projected $20.7 billion deficit, were pledging to push hard for as much as $8 billion from the federal government.

In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday, Mr. Schwarzenegger focused much of his attention on recouping some of the costs of the pending health care overhaul.

He said the bills in Congress would cost California $4 billion to $5 billion. California, he said, suffers from federal reimbursement and eligibility rules that place residents in welfare and health programs administered by the state but without enough money from the federal government to cover them.

Mr. Schwarzenegger said he counted himself a supporter of the effort to revamp health care, but, he wrote, “if Congress fails to address the existing unfunded mandates and adds yet another layer, federal health care reform could collapse the very safety net system it seeks to expand.â€

From another article:

It's probably true, as Schwarzenegger said Sunday on "State of the Union" on CNN, that

California pays "approximately a billion dollars for the incarceration of undocumented immigrants"

and gets only $100 million in return. The federal government does indeed have an obligation to reimburse the state for part of the cost of the failure to adequately control the nation's borders, and the governor is right to seek every bit of revenue and reimbursement due to the state, to decrease the damage caused by inevitable cuts.

If the Federal government controlled the border like they should these illegals wouldn't be here and CA. could be off the hook for this BILLION DOLLARS.

FROM:

Why illegal immigration isn't to blame for the state budget crisis

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-182688.html

Seems to me that if California, or any other state, wishes to have the taxpayers from the other states bail them out of their financial woes, step one would be to file a formal business plan to identify how the state is going to be frugal, economically conservative, budget focused, and how and when the state will cut costs/expenses. Before granting one cent, the state should first have to demonstrate the ability to execute the business plan, i.e., no empty promises like Congress uses (e.g., we will reduce the deficit by eliminating Medicare fraud). Once the state has done this, then they should be monitored on a monthly basis to ensure the state stays on track with its business plan and cost reductions. Last, the state must show how the Federal money will be re-paid, with interest, over an acceptable time period (15 years max in my book).

Frankly, I don't think the 10 or 11 states in the worst economic shape would do this, nor do I think they could do this because it would require a 180 degree change in political philosophy. But my opinion is that if they can't or won't, let them file for bankruptcy. They are not too big to fail because they already have.

RELATED

Schwarzenegger Seeks Obama’s Help for Deficit Relief

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-182901.html