January 19, 2005
Jeb! budget will kill the poor
In Florida, the governor traditionally suggests a spending plan, the legislature has its own ideas, and a final product usually emerges late in the legislative session.
Jeb! unveiled his budget proposal yesterday, and, despite the fact that Florida has tons of money in the bank, he plans on paying for a mediocre religious studies Pre-k program by driving working Floridians with medical problems into poverty.
The Medically Needy program receives most of its funding from the federal government, but Jeb! just hates spending money on poor people, so it’s out, even though he indicated last week that programs like this would be preserved in his soon to be revealed plan to kill Medicaid.
Some news outlets are putting a pretty face on an increase in education dollars, but Jeb! has no choice in this, as funding is required to finance the voter mandated class size amendment as well as Pre-k. (Jeb! hates this, because poor people can benefit from smaller class sizes too.)
Further, Jeb! will expect college kids to ante up more cash for school, which, hopefully, will dissuade some poor people who may have benefitted from smaller classes and who really could have used a high quality Pre-k program, as mandated by voters, from pursuing higher education goals.
Of course, tax cuts for non-poor people are a big part of Jeb!’s proposal, as businesses and wealthy investors both win substantial tax savings.
What? Jeb! is also suggesting a nine day sales tax holiday? Gee, that should help the poor. Oh, wait...
Gov. Jeb Bush, who rode into the Capitol six years ago with a promise to make government smaller and a zeal for cutting taxes, reasserted his conservative side today, proposing a budget that calls for substantial tax cuts while eliminating programs intended to help working Floridians with massive medical bills stay out of poverty.Bush unveiled a $61.6 billion budget for the coming year that calls for nearly $300 million in tax cuts -- including eliminating a tax now charged on beer and wine sold at bars and restaurants, offering a nine-day sales tax holiday for clothes, books and school supplies, and cutting by half the state tax charged to wealthy investors who own stocks and bonds.
Democrats assailed Bush's priorities, saying he is favoring the rich through tax cuts while squeezing middle-class Floridians with higher tuition, and hurting the poor by cutting health care.Posted by Norwood at January 19, 2005 05:07 AMBush's plan to revamp Medicaid includes wiping out Medically Needy, a program that serves uninsured people with catastrophic illnesses. A similar proposal by the Legislature two years ago was dropped after touching off a firestorm of criticism. Other, deeper cuts in Medicaid angered lobbyists for hospitals.
"We were all asked to step in with an open mind to discuss reform. If that's reform, we're not there," said Tony Carvalho, a lobbyist for teaching hospitals, including Tampa General. "We are very disappointed in the level of cuts in the Medicaid budget."
I didn't vote for Jeb, his brother, or his father, but I hope those who did will remember how they voted when they have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for tuition for their kids.
Jeb's kids went to private (millionaire) institutions so he never had to cut the grocery budget at home to finance their educations.
I hope those who were foolish enough to believe his campaign promises to help with education and health care will be smart enough to see through those tax cuts for the wealthy that seem to be part of his family's promise to the voters next election, if they can afford to drive to the polls.
