Brown Proposes Slashing Welfare
If voters don't approve tax hikes, school budgets will cut too
The state’s health and social safety net for its poorest residents would be slashed even if voters approve a tax increase that Gov. Jerry Brown proposes for the November ballot, Brown said Thursday as he released his spending blueprint for the coming year. And if the voters reject new taxes, he said, California’s schools and universities would go on the chopping block.
Brown’s budget includes deep cuts in welfare, Medi-Cal and home-based services for the disabled, which he wants to enact as soon as possible, and threatens a huge reduction to education – the equivalent of three weeks of classes — if voters reject a proposed increase in the sales tax and income tax in November.
“We are making some very painful reductions,” Brown told reporters at the Capitol.”This is not nice stuff, but that’s what it takes to balance the budget.
As part of this plan for the schools, Brown proposed giving local districts far more flexibility to spend their money the way they see fit, including the right to increase class sizes in the lower grades without losing money that had been targeted for keeping classes small. He said aside from some basic protections for civil rights, he did not believe it was wise for Sacramento to dictate policy to local communities. Residents of rural Kern or Modoc counties (whom he referred to as “Modocians”) might want to do things differently than those in San Francisco.
“Let a thousand flowers bloom,” Brown said, apparently quoting the late Chinese dictator Mao Tse-tung, although scholars say the Communist Party chairman actually referred to “one hundred flowers” in a speech encouraging intellectuals to criticize his regime. Many of those who spoke out were executed for their views.
Later, when asked why he was targeting kindergarten-through-community college education and the state’s public universities for cuts to be triggered if voters turn down his tax increase, Brown replied, “That’s where the money is.”
Brown added: “As Willie Sutton said, when asked why he robbed banks, he said, ‘that’s where the money is.’”
Sutton actually denied saying that infamous quote, pinning it instead on the imagination of a sensationalist newspaper reporter, but Brown made his point. He said the state simply does not have enough money to continue what he described as “generous” health and social service programs.
“The state of California’s government is a very generous, compassionate political jurisdiction,” Brown said. “When we have to reduce our spending, that spending is going to come from programs that are doing good, in schools, in health care, in all the other areas that constitute public service. Obviously that’s the only thing to cut. If there were more bad programs, or lower value programs, we’d cut those. We can’t spend what we don’t have. It’s not nice. We don’t like it. But the economy and the tax statutes of California make only so much money available. We have to spend it and make tough choices.”
Among the choices Brown proposed Thursday was a move to reduce from 48 months to 24 months the amount of time a person could remain on welfare unless they landed an unsubsidized job. This would mean ending aid to an estimated 270,000 adults, nearly half of the current caseload, for a savings of about $1.1 billion a year to the state. People who found work but were still eligible for aid could remain in the program for another two years.
Brown also proposed ending state-subsidized domestic services to disabled people who live with other non-disabled adults or minor children, on the theory that those people can take care of themselves. This would be on top of a 20 percent reduction in home care services triggered automatically this month when the state’s tax revenues fell short of projections. The latest proposal is expected to end services for a quarter-million people for a savings of about $168 million.
Brown also proposed moving more people in the state’s Medi-Cal program into managed care, a move he said would save more than $1 billion a year when fully implemented. And he suggested charging families who get their insurance through the Healthy Families program higher premiums while combining that program’s services with Medi-Cal.
katherin canton
This is so upseting, our governor is treating a state, comprised of people(!) like a regular corporation. Thinking and making decisions based solely on the BOTTOM LINE-money. I completely understand that excess money is not here in a visible place, but we have so much that can support the state. This makes me fear our future, the future of my home. I hope that this just prompts residents and communities to take action for our own benefit we need to stop playing their game and recreate system that will support financial and social community growth.
Sean Benward
The greatest terrorist threat to the United States is not AL Qaeda or any other foreign threat.
The constant use of our public educational system as hostage for political means by our government will do more to sabotage our country then any terrorist group could ever hope to do.
The squandering of our most valuable resource, our children's education is nothing short of treason.
Meanwhile the rest of the world laughs.
Nadja Adolf
Typical Moonbeam horse pucky. Please note that the extravagant pensions for prison guards and other state employees - an unfunded obligation - are not being reduced. Note also that the obscene perks for elected officials and high ranking bureaucrats aren't going away, either. The several dozen billion dollar train from one pasture to another is also still on schedule for the central valley although the residents don't want it, period.
Brown succeeds because he never makes the mistake of overestimating the intelligence of the average voter. He has proposed "taxing the rich" with a tax increase that actually will disproportionately land on the backs of the poor and middle classes - while those who earn higher wages will be taxed, the wealthiest whose income is from investments will see less of an increment than those who apparent wealth is based in salaries - and everyone will see a sales tax increase and an extension of the sales tax to services - like your local doctor.
Shasa B Foster
It's shameful that California is a welfare state, which could mean, people milking the system- who don't deserve public aid, or there's a vast majority in this state who have temporarily fallen on hard times and need temporary help. In living within the shadow of the 'hood where the majority of residents are on aid and imbibe in vices using their benefits, cutting welfare can only be the right direction if the state instituted an aggressive audit system to determine who is really needy, and to flag down "intergenerational" recipients of public aid which translates to enable behaviors.
MotherLodeBeth
Governor Brown inherited a mess and instead of pretending we don't have serious concerns he is speaking the truth. Sadly, some folks don't like the truth. The teachers union goes out on strike for more pay but when was the last time they went on strike because students aren't getting an A+ education?
Cutting welfare may cause some folks to stop and think before they have a child they cannot afford to take care of themselves. If we could stop SSI to drug and alcohol addicts the feds/state could save billions.
The whole welfare state where we pay folks for the poor choices they have made is one reason the country and state are in such a horrid mess. And how about we start telling families that they are responsible for their family members, not the state and taxpayers?
Have NO problem helping victims of crime who have been left disabled and in need of help. Seems criminals get more help than their victims and their families.