Frankfort Haiku

Medicaid big hole,
Frankfort talk and talk and talk;
In end, nothing change.

The 2011 General Assembly ended with parliamentary jujitsu, as the House pulled a fast one on the Senate by approving the Senate budget (thus eliminating the need for conference) and sending it on to the Gov, where he can line-item-veto everything he doesn't like with no fear that the House will vote to override. Where does that leave us? Right where we started.

We have a big Medicaid deficit. The Gov proposed borrowing from next year's budget, with "promises" to pay the money back through cost-savings. (If you can achieve that much in cost savings, why not do it now?) David Williams, never one to let a crisis go to waste if he can use it to score political points, led the Senate to cut everything in sight in response. (David keeps a copy of Shock Doctrine on his bed-side stand.)

Now, with this latest maneuver, the Gov gets to borrow his money, veto the spending cuts, and promise to pay them back later. Williams gets to say he tried, the House gets to say they saved the day, and everyone gets to go home. And we, dear citizens, get stuck with a budget crisis that's just delayed, not actually dealt with.

Comments

[Bruce]

I appreciate the House members thinking outside the box and out-playing Williams. I also appreciate that we're not going to deal with this latest budget crunch by again cutting the things that improve our state and the lives of our people. I just wish there was enough political will to actually deal with our funding and spending, rather than just play the game.