Morning Bell: Summer of Bailouts
Conn Carroll /
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs did not give the White House daily press briefing yesterday. The stated excuse was a bad cough. But there was no mention of any flu-like symptoms when The Hill reported yesterday that Gibbs believes the “professional left” should be “drug tested” since they will only be satisfied “when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon.” After an outpouring of leftist protests over the article, including a call from Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) that he resign, Gibbs walked back his criticism, releasing a statement explaining: “Day after day it gets frustrating. Yesterday I watched as someone called legislation to prevent teacher layoffs a bailout – but I know that’s not a view held by many.”
Oh how wrong Gibbs is. “Bailout” is the only word that can accurately describe the $26.1 billion legislation that the House approved on a largely party line vote yesterday. Let’s break down the bill’s main provisions:
The $16.1 Billion Medicaid Bailout – Congress has already bailed-out state Medicaid programs three times this decade, the most recent $87 billion installment coming as part of President Obama’s $862 billion failed economic stimulus bill. But the states with the most wasteful Medicaid programs have already blown through that money, and now they need another hit. Every state should have known that the stimulus funding would expire on December 31, 2010. But 30 states went ahead and built their budgets on the assumption that President Obama would hook them up for 2011 as well. This $16 billion Medicaid bailout is designed to aid to those states with the worst Medicaid spending problems. For instance, New York has nearly 30 percent of its citizens enrolled and spends in excess of $18,000 per person in poverty. Texas, in comparison, with 5 million more people and 1 million more individuals in poverty than New York, has a much smaller Medicaid program. In essence those 20 states that acted prudently and budgeted for the stimulus to expire are paying for the bailouts of the 30 states that can’t control their Medicaid spending problem. (more…)