PRESS RELEASE
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Budget agreement bodes ill for a suffering state and speaks volumes of the lack of leadership in Sacramento
Los Angeles –Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislature reached a deal late last night on a series of measures in order to modify the state’s 2009-2010 budget. The deal, however, once again stopped short of offering long term solutions not only to avoid the stalemate but to deter further erosion of the state’s safety net for vulnerable populations. The following is a statement by Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), a regional human and immigrant rights organizations based in Los Angeles:
"The Governor is celebrating this budget agreement but the state’s most vulnerable communities will find that there is little to celebrate. This budget introduces dangerous precedents for dealing with future budget jams and will certainly burden low-income families. This budget pushes the deficit to the next fiscal year. The debate calling for an increase in taxes for the most wealthy continues to be absent. Increasing taxes to those who can afford it would have ensured that all Californians shared the pain. In contrast this budget deal continues to dismantle the safety-net which is essential to low-income families especially in difficult times. The budget deal includes almost $15 billion in budget cuts to
keep programs such as:
-$1.3 billion: Medi-Cal, the state's health care program for the poor.
-$1.3 billion: Three unpaid furlough days per month for state workers.
-$528 million: CalWORKS, partly by increasing sanctions for families that fail to meet work requirements.
In addition, $53 million in cuts to the state's Healthy Families insurance program have been agreed upon. This would slash health coverage for children from low-income, working families by 50%. The result would be at least 500,000 kids losing their existing health care coverage.
This budget is shortsighted and does not solve the structural budget deficit of the Golden State. Deep reform to the state’s tax system and budget process is essential to solve our financial problems. The lack of leadership in Sacramento, however, not only is shameful but dangerous to the well being of every Californian."
Comments
how about wasting untold TRILLIONS of dollars on empire's military and bankster fatcats. this is how all the empires collapsed.
Millions of folks getting state benefits are illegal immigrants sucking our sanctuary system dry. Too bad the only criteria to gain state benefits is poverty. If legal residency or citizenship were considered, they couldn't draw on the system meant for the poorest citizens in California.
Instead Americans will lose state aid because their not as poor as illegal immigrants that come here with nothing. Why are the voters willing to give their tax dollars to support people from other countries who's presence here is illegal? Nobody asked them.
Seems like the ones that want to give state benefits away are all working for the state themselves. The Sacramento fatcats make the rules and citizens got the bill.
The middle class family gets left with nothing. They make too much to receive any benefit from the system but not enough to pay their bills.
Sacramento legislators want to raise our taxes to pay for more illegal immigrants to get state paid services. Good money after bad.IMO
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