Bottom line? The Republicans are going to hurt a lot of people - and they are doing it for political purposes.
Without its share, Michigan will lose extended unemployment benefits for 87,000 people starting July 1, and won't receive more than $500 million in federal Medicaid payments that the administration had counted on for next year’s budget.
Granholm called U.S. Senate Republicans obstructionists for blocking the funding bill, despite pleas from 47 governors who face deficits or large numbers of unemployed residents.
Republicans are sociopaths. They hurt people. And they don't care. I'm done mincing words about this.
Granholm and state lawmakers already are struggling to plug a deficit of at least $1.5 billion next year. She said adding another $500 million in red ink would force painful cuts either in Medicaid services -- perhaps drug, mental health or nursing home payments -- or reductions in funds for colleges or revenue sharing that helps local governments pay for basic services such as police and fire protection.
The little kids. The college students. The elderly. The unemployed. The sick. Your family, when you can't get a cop or firefighter. People will be hurt. People will lose their health care, people will lose their homes, people will not be able to feed their children.
Because of the Republicans. For political purposes.
Granholm said 408,000 Michigan recipients stand to lose their unemployment checks by the end of the year. And the denial of $500 million in additional federal Medicaid money means Michigan physicians will see another 35% reduction in reimbursement for treating Medicaid patients.
That will force many doctors to stop treating Medicaid patients, leaving many of the state’s 1.6 million Medicaid recipients without primary health care, including pregnant women, those with disabilities and seniors, Granholm said.
Republicans want government to be broken, they want citizens to be hurting and angry, they will obstruct anything and everything that will bring the economy recovery - and they do this all in the name of regaining power.
Mike Bishop is probably smiling at the thought of getting to demand more cuts - and he is going to have his list ready by next week. Already been working on it, his list of people he can hurt. Who rushes to do such a thing, besides someone who relishes the job with glee?
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) however told reporters that he had been preparing for the chance the proposal would fail.
He said he would present a series of proposed cuts to his caucus on Tuesday. While he would not specify where those cuts would come from he said they would be spread over a number of departments.
Sociopaths.
They hurt people. For political purposes.
But I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know.
Question now is: What are we going to do about it?