I know I blogged about this before, but it hit the press again and it is worth repeating. Those of you with congressional watch blogs should take note and watch your critter closely. Time to find out who is going to stand up for us in Washington.
WASHINGTON -- Michigan faces a loss of more than $2 billion in federal money over the next five years if budget cuts proposed by President Bush become law, according to separate analyses by Michigan's hospitals and a Washington think-tank.
A report released Wednesday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington estimated Michigan would lose about $1.1 billion from 2008 to 2012 in spending on nearly a dozen federal programs. The Michigan Health and Hospital Association estimated that changes in Medicare and Medicaid would cut $1.1 billion from funding over the same period.
And for a breakdown on the programs and estimated cuts-
K-12 education: $221 million
Vocational/adult education: $149.6 million
Child care block grants: $13 million
Head Start: $86.3 million
Clean water programs: $111.2 million
Home heating aid: $136.2 million
Community services grants: $122.4 million
Public housing capital fund: $47.7 million
Community Development Block Grants: $160.1 million
Law enforcement grants: $94.7 million
Women, Infants and Children nutrition program: $17.3 million
That list doesn't include the $1.1 billion in Medicare and Medicaid funding cuts. One in seven people in Michigan rely on Medicaid for health care, $8 billion is spent annually. Fifty-six percent of that money is from federal funding, and 44 percent is from the state.
It is almost a sure bet that the Republicans in our state legislature will be looking to cut the state level funding for Medicaid- they tried and tried under Sikkema's leadership, and given the resistance to cuts in prisons and education they have indicated so far, and the fact that they are unwilling to raise revenues, you can almost guarantee they will go after the sick folks. There really isn't anywhere else to turn.
Those costs will ultimately be passed on to you in the form of higher insurance rates as hospitals and doctors look to recoup that money.
In the end, cuts will cost you, one way or the other.
Reductions in other federal programs leave Michigan and other states with unappealing choices, said Sharon Parrott of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"States can scale back the services they provide," Parrott said. "Or they can raise revenues by increasing taxes."
Bush supporters say Michigan will benefit from a balanced budget and income tax cuts.
"It may be small comfort for people looking for immediate relief," said Alan Viard, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
Given the crisis that Michigan is in right now, it is no comfort at all. It is salt in an open wound.
Kids, the poor, the sick, law enforcement, community development... all suffer so you can pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and Bush's failed foreign entanglements.
Wonder if Medicaid covers Compazine. We are all going to need some.