WASHINGTON – A measure providing more than half a billion dollars in
funding for Washington state’s Medicaid program and to help pay teacher
salaries cleared a critical hurdle Wednesday in the Senate.
The funding should allow the state to avoid a short-term budget crisis with the prospect of imposing across-the-board cuts.
“This
amendment will allow Washington state to avoid (state employee)
layoffs, service cuts or tax increases and it will make sure our
children don’t walk through the schoolhouse door this September to
larger class sizes and fewer subjects,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,
who had introduced the measure.
Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a statement the measure will help the state avoid “drastic” cuts.
“Such actions would have been devastating to Washington state by
slowing our recovery and potentially pushing us toward a double dip
recession,” the governor said.
The legislation provides $16.1
billion to help states pay for the growing cost of Medicaid as more low
income people seek medical help because of the recession and $10 billion
for school funding.
Washington would get $320 million for
Medicaid and $208 million in school aid, Murray’s office said, though
Gregoire’s office said the state should receive $338 million in Medicaid
funding and $205 million for schools. The different estimates resulted
from the use of complicated formulas and calculations. The final number
might not be known until the money is actually distributed.
Last
year’s $862 billion stimulus package included extra Medicaid and school
funding for the states, but that was about to run out. Washington and
dozens of other states had used the anticipated continuation of the
funding to balance their budgets.
Gregoire said the education
funding in the bill was not something the state had counted on. Her
budget office still needs to learn what strings might attach to the
school aid. She described Washington’s schools as being in better shape
than others around the country that faced teacher layoffs.
The
likely aid means Gregoire does not need to order across-the-board cuts
or consider bringing state lawmakers to town for a special session for
now.
But the state’s September and November revenue forecasts
could change that, Gregoire said in a meeting with reporters at the
state Capitol Wednesday morning. The Democrat also foresees a budget
crisis in January and wants her own Cabinet to consider spending
reductions that could provide an early start on closing an expected $3
billion budget shortfall for 2011-13.
The Senate voted 61-38 to
end debate on the measure and a final vote is expected today. While 60
votes were needed to cut off debate, for final passage the bill needs
only a simple majority. All of the Senate’s Democrats supported the
measure along with Maine’s two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and
Susan Collins.
The House has not approved similar legislation.
Though the House has recessed until September, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi indicated she would call it back into session next week to
consider the Senate bill.
The measure had become a priority for
the Obama White House and congressional Democrats. Earlier efforts to
pass smaller stimulus and jobs bills, including extending unemployment
and providing a boost in small-business funding, were blocked by
Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, warned
the spending, particularly for the schools, could create a “permanent
need for future state bailouts.”
McConnell also said the bill was a
“brazen attempt” to pacify public employee unions and set up the need
for a massive tax increase later this year.
The bill was supported
by the National Education Association, which represents teachers, and
unions representing federal, state and local government employees.
Murray rejected McConnell’s arguments.
“This
is not about the teacher’s union, it’s about kids in the classroom,”
said Murray. “This is about people today in our states struggling to get
back on their feet.”
With concern about the ballooning federal
deficit, the Murray-sponsored amendment was able to offset the cost of
the bill by taking money from other government programs including some
of which have had strong Democratic support.
The Congressional
Budget Office estimated the measure would reduce future federal deficits
by nearly $1.4 billion over the next 10 years.
Among others
things, Murray’s measure would roll back $11.9 billion in additional
food stamp benefits that were scheduled to take place in 2014, take
unspent money from programs that were slated to expire and close $9.6
billion in foreign tax credit loopholes to multinational companies.
Murray’s
likely opponent in the November general election, Republican Dino
Rossi, said, “this is a stopgap measure which only delays states from
making the same tough budget decisions Washington state families are
making every day.”
Among other things, Rossi said Murray’s bill cuts “needed” funding for the military.
Murray’s
bill does take $2.3 billion from the Pentagon, but she emphasized the
money was “unrelated” to current military operations.
– The News Tribune
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