Just In Case You Weren't Sure ...
...California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made his priorities abundantly clear when the legislature handed over the budget "fix" for him to sign yesterday. Oh, he signed it, but not without a little more tinkering.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today [July 28, 2009] signed a budget plan approved by lawmakers to close the state's monumental deficit, using his veto power to impose nearly $500 million in additional cuts.
The new reductions will affect child welfare and children's healthcare, the elderly, state parks, and AIDS treatment and prevention beyond the dramatic cuts that were part of the deal Schwarzenegger negotiated with legislative leaders. ...
The extra cuts he made today -- $489 million -- took nearly $80 million that pays for workers who help abused and neglected children; $50 million from Healthy Families, which provides healthcare to children in low-income families; $50 million from services for developmentally delayed children under age 3; $16 million from domestic-violence programs; $6.3 million from services for the elderly; and $6.2 million from parks. That reduction could result in the closure of 100, rather than 50, state parks.
And, because he's certainly no girly-man, he proceeded to crow about what he did:
..."This budget is kind of like the good, the bad and the ugly."
The good, Schwarzenegger said, was that the plan does not raise taxes ...
Well, there you have it: our governor, ever mindful of his Hollywood roots, has reduced the budget of a state with one of the largest economies in the world to the status of a spaghetti western. These extra cuts were made because the legislators decided that the original plan was a bit too draconian (look it up, Arnold) even for them. They could put up with plunging our education system into a third world status, but even they had a few qualms about the cuts to the health and welfare of the most vulnerable of our citizens, especially since those cuts would balloon state health care costs within the next two budget cycles (the first is less than a year away).
Hey! But it's all good. No taxes were raised in the making of this film.
Heckuva job, Arnold.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today [July 28, 2009] signed a budget plan approved by lawmakers to close the state's monumental deficit, using his veto power to impose nearly $500 million in additional cuts.
The new reductions will affect child welfare and children's healthcare, the elderly, state parks, and AIDS treatment and prevention beyond the dramatic cuts that were part of the deal Schwarzenegger negotiated with legislative leaders. ...
The extra cuts he made today -- $489 million -- took nearly $80 million that pays for workers who help abused and neglected children; $50 million from Healthy Families, which provides healthcare to children in low-income families; $50 million from services for developmentally delayed children under age 3; $16 million from domestic-violence programs; $6.3 million from services for the elderly; and $6.2 million from parks. That reduction could result in the closure of 100, rather than 50, state parks.
And, because he's certainly no girly-man, he proceeded to crow about what he did:
..."This budget is kind of like the good, the bad and the ugly."
The good, Schwarzenegger said, was that the plan does not raise taxes ...
Well, there you have it: our governor, ever mindful of his Hollywood roots, has reduced the budget of a state with one of the largest economies in the world to the status of a spaghetti western. These extra cuts were made because the legislators decided that the original plan was a bit too draconian (look it up, Arnold) even for them. They could put up with plunging our education system into a third world status, but even they had a few qualms about the cuts to the health and welfare of the most vulnerable of our citizens, especially since those cuts would balloon state health care costs within the next two budget cycles (the first is less than a year away).
Hey! But it's all good. No taxes were raised in the making of this film.
Heckuva job, Arnold.
Labels: Budget, California
posted by Diane at 3:30 AM
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