The Columbus Dispatch reports that Governor Strickland says that the Senate version of the stimulus package would be “hugely harmful” to Ohio. Strickland says that under the Senate plan, he would be required to cut $1 billion from his proposed budget.
The Dispatch says, “Because the revamped measure reduces money for states, it now threatens Ohio with a tuition increase for 40 percent of public-college students, the loss of thousands of state- and local-government jobs, closure of two “medium-sized” prisons, and 50,000 fewer people receiving mental-health services, the governor said yesterday.”
Strickland’s budget calls for using at least $5.4 billion in federal stimulus money: $3.4 billion for general-revenue fund spending, and $2 billion being plugged into federal accounts for Medicaid. That would free up $2 billion in state funds for other spending.
In a letter to Ohio’s congressional delegation, Strickland said, “I write to inform you of the devastating impact the ‘compromise amendment’ the U.S. Senate is considering over the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will have on the citizens of Ohio if passed and if agreed to in a subsequent conference committee.
“The Senate compromise amendment cuts more than $25 billion in stimulus resources that are targeted to states and local communities in the House-passed version of the bill.
“These purposeful investments will make certain that as the broader stimulus resources flow into our cities and towns to create new jobs, the economic gains are not weakened by more layoffs and a deterioration of the education, health and safety services that Ohioans rely upon every day.
“State spending is perhaps the most efficient way to ensure that the stimulus resources flow quickly into local economies where they will have the greatest impact. In Ohio, for example, a full 88 cents of every revenue dollar is spent in local cities and towns.
“Though the Ohio General Assembly will not begin budget deliberations until later this week, the executive version of the state operating budget does plan for the use of federal stimulus resources in important ways. Without these stimulus resources, cuts to the following services are likely: higher education, which will lead to tuition increases; mental health and mental retardation board subsidies; job and family services child care programs; public health and safety services; rehabilitation and corrections institutional operations; youth services; Alzheimer’s respite care; and a diminished capacity to protect our state natural resources.”
Governor Strickland, please follow the Ohio constitution. It is you and the general assembly’s responsibility to submit a balanced bi-annum budget. Quite whinning about the spendulus plan not sending you any money. You ran on the same platform as O did, you both were going to bring high paying jobs into Ohio, education reform was a, if not the top priority, blah, blah, blah. As you have discovered and O is discovering, leading is a lot harder than campaigning. Quit looking for a handout from the feds and do your job. Time is ticking and the whole State is watching.
A balanced state budget means a lot of doing without. States can not run huge deficits like the feds can, so if you think we need to spend more than we have at the moment to revive the economy, only the feds can do that and send benefits to the states. I’m not sure why that is what the Rs wanted to remove from the stimulus, other than hoping things don’t work for the Ds for the next election. R governors wanted it too.
It is bad when the DDN makes the case against Strickland’s budget in today’s editorial. Just when I thought we might have seen our worst days it is apparent Ted is not going to lead us out of the darkness anytime soon.
It is bad when the DDN makes the case against Strickland’s budget in today’s editorial. Just when I thought we might have seen our worst days it is apparent Ted is not going to lead us out of the darkness anytime soon.