Posted on 07/03/2009 4:42:18 PM PDT by SmithL
As California's fiscal crisis careened out of control with Thursday's issuance of IOUs, Democrats and Republicans remained deadlocked, largely over one of the state's biggest responsibilities: providing a safety net for poor and sick residents.
At the center of the dispute is a question over how deeply the state should cut spending on health care for poor children, welfare payments to single mothers and in-home services for the elderly and the disabled.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger initially wanted to eliminate such programs. But in the past week, the governor softened his stand, instead demanding deep cuts, the rooting out of fraud in the system and changes to some welfare programs to save money, such as requiring recipients to sign up online instead at a government office.
"We are all committed to getting this done," Schwarzenegger said Thursday at a news conference in Los Angeles. "I'm more than (willing) to compromise."
But Democratic lawmakers say Schwarzenegger's proposals are still draconian, would unravel the state's safety net and hurt the ailing economy.
"The remaining key issues that we've identified ... (are) issues relating to the California safety net: how we preserve it and how we might do some common-sense policy changes ... to be able to do a better job of keeping costs under control over time," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said Thursday.
The challenge is to find savings without destroying programs that so many Californians depend on, he said.
"I came to public life for one reason. I was taught if you were given something in life ... you give something back, and stand for people who do not have a voice," he said.
Schwarzenegger continued to criticize state lawmakers Thursday for their inability to approve a plan to fix the state's budget deficit that grew by $2 billion to $26.3 billion
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Arent compromises what got him into this trouble in the first place?
The whole problem is that the Democrats want business as usual and nothing less.
Precisely.
When dealing with rats, "compromise" = "cave".
The state’s responsibility is to maintain roads, keep the peace, educate children, fight fires that local governments can’t, maintain prisons and the like.
It is NOT supposed to pay family to take care of their own family members, promote sloth, provide services to illegal aliens nor duplicate federal programs.
Nor is it supposed to provide lifetime benefits to those who work the least.
Cut it all.
I would support Arnold as long as he doesn't compromise, and let it swirl down the sewer. The machine knows arnold will blink first, but if Arnold had the support of the CAGOP and the conservatives who put him there, he would ride that titanic and let it sink. Then build a new one. /myrant.
do us all a favor Arnold and resign.
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