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€