Arnold Schwarzenegger to call for deep spending cuts, plead for U.S. aid

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will present the final budget of his governorship later this morning, calling for deep cuts to public transit, healthcare and social services, as well as pleading for billions of dollars in help from Washington to close California's roughly $20-billion deficit.

The Republican governor will renew his call to expand oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast and extend the payroll cuts that have resulted in furloughs and a 14% salary cut for more than 200,000 state workers.

Mostly, Schwarzenegger will deliver bad news as cash-strapped California continues to muddle through the economic downturn, despite raising taxes and cutting back services severely in 2009.

"As bitter as the words are in my mouth, we face additional cuts," Schwarzenegger said in his State of the State speech before lawmakers Wednesday.  "We know what that means. We know the pain it entails. I mean, what can we say at this point except the truth, that we have no choice?"

Schwarzenegger vowed this week to "protect education funding" after two years in which billions of dollars were sliced from college and K-12 funding. But the governor has not said if that means more cuts to schools are out of the question, as he provides details of the budget today.

That has school advocates continuing to fret. "We're very heartened that he made that promise," said Jo A.S. Loss, president of the California State PTA. "And we will be very diligent to make sure that happens."

The governor will call for $8 billion in aid from Washington. If the funds don't come through, he will propose the wholesale elimination of CalWorks, the state's main welfare program, as well as a program that provides in-home care to the elderly and disabled.

Corporate tax breaks approved recently also could be rolled back. The proposed budget is just the first salvo in months-long negotiations to produce a spending plan that must be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature.

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

Comments

[Robert]

The governor has it exactly backwards. In times of economic trouble, you shore up public transit, healthcare and social services, not slash them repeatedly. These programs save more money than they cost. He's only succeeding in making sure California's troubles last decades instead of years.

[Ann]

Great, kids can get educated, but families won't be able to afford food. HUH???

[Randy L.]

The only aid you need is a budget cut. Your states inability to reign in spending is the culprit of your current fiscal woes.

Quit asking everyone else to pay for your lack of foresight and lack of fiscal restraint.

Spend, spend, spend and don't worry about tomorrow. Guess what???? It's tomorrow.

[ti]

Rather than suggest new, innovative solutions to the budget crisis Gov Schwarzenegger is chosing to rely on the disproven idea of low taxes and small government to bring about a recovery. As a result a CA recovery that's not going to happen. One only needs to look at the catastrophic collapse of the financial markets and free fall in employment based on this idea to grasp the foolishness of this approach. Gov Schwarzenegger will end his reign as possibly the worst governor in CA history. G. Davis are you still out there?

[dAN]

Well, here we go again folks. Hold on tight to your wallets as more taxes are coming. Think about it, he doesn't have anything to loose this time. Bass 2 has said everything is on the table including taxes. What do you think that means?
Happy New Year!

[Richard]

Well, at least now I know that I am not missing anything except the same information from our bad news Governor. I feel sorry for whoever the next Governor of California will be; Arnold will leave the state in such a mess; it is almost unbelievable the damage he has done to our state.

[Joanna Jenkins]

I just wish for once people would realize, when we borrow from the "Federal" government, it is just a different pocket (our pocket). If the state governments need to balance their budgets, STOP SPENDING. You can't continue to raise taxes, (we have to many people unemployed) the rest of us are reeling enough as it is. WAKE UP!

[alatinteacher]

It's about time we eleminate some or hopefull ALL of this "Welfare" handouts. Walfare wasn't suppose to be "long-term", just temporary............like 1 to 2 months............not 10-15 years. What did people do when welfare, food stamps and section 8 wasn't around?? They worked!

[AdoptiveFather, Los Angeles CA]

The only fix is eliminating all public pensions and healthcare.
-
Politicians have greased the unions for re-election using money that doesn't exist.
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The recent tax increases only destroy more of the private sector economy.

[greenfeld]

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the problem and the whole government ,the way they operate . waste in the government and high wages . cut your salary arnold and reduce taxes together with high regulation .
the way we operate is recipe for disaster . we need change . cutting the waste together with reducing the government size . and changing the law less regulation on state level and county level .
we are in danger unless we take drastic measure . nobody will come and invest here .
the dollar will crush to low that nobody believe . your people that getting free check every month will get only paper . arnold stop giving free money!!!!!!!!!!!!
i aleardy see the war coming . million of people dieing

all that on to of 10 trillion deficit .

greenfeld

[MR. RIGHT]

"deep spending cuts?"...the clowns in Sacramento are about 5 years late!!!
....shezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Here we are living in the richest state in the Union, in richest country on the planet with enough oil, natural gas & coal to satisfy our energy needs for at least 300 years and what are we doing... paying for the "War on Terror" on both ends every time we fill up at the local gas station. And borrowing money from the Chicoms so people can go down to their local Mao-Mart and purchase MADE IN CHINA merchandise... the proverbial "dog chasing his tail" comes to mind.

Forrest Gump said it best "Stupid is as stupid does."

"Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink."
P.J.O'Rourke

[Enough Cuts]

In his final year of his governorship Arnold decided to protect K-12 education. To little to late, at my son's school the kids are packed in classrooms like sardines, he lost transportation to school, the school day was shortened, a fundraiser was added and four teachers got a pink slip. When is the bleeding going to stop? Ever since Arnold took office he has protected prison funding over education, because of this our schools have been robbed of money they need to provide an adequate education for our kids. Knowing he was doing this, people still elected him to a second term. It's time for anyone who has been affected by the school cuts to do something and help schools receive the funding they need. We need to start using, www.mainstreetfair.com to buy and sell items online and they will donate to any school in the U.S. Nothing else is working, why not give this a chance?

[Whatever in LA]

He is right. California chose to spend recklessly and we now experience the result. We have no money - so we need to cut spending, even if it really hurts. Every household does the same economic decisions, and cuts back when there is no money.

[Alex]

Legalize Marijuana and Tax it.. There is your fix!

[Liz Elliott]

I am amazed that he can promise not to cut school funding but slash services to the elderly and handicap. I am not a fan of cuts to education, being a teacher and parent myself, but healthy children can cope much better with reduced services than the disabled and elderly, whose very lives depend on these services. We can not prioritize care for the able bodied over care for the lives that are literally at risk.

[Alex C.]

Again, you pull the rug out from underneath the people who probably had little or nothing to do with creating these problems but who stand to reap all the consequences.

Instead of slashing programs that actually help people rise from a dire-straight situation, why not severely slash the money that goes towards our bloated and reprehensible prison system? (After all, we have the country's third largest system. Not to mention the astronomical costs to keep prisoners on death row.)

It's important to reign in spending, but we should first get our facts and priorities straight.

[c kRAUSE]

We need to dump the Governor he is acting like a little dictator. I didn't chose to spend recklessly. Our state gov. chose for us, I don't remember be asked. They all should go they are not representing the publIC.

MR. GOVERNOR KEEP YOUR DIRTY LITTLE HANDS OF THE PENSION FUNDS.

[H. Craig Bradley]

Corporate Tax Cuts might be rescended. This sure sounds like a tax increase, doesn't it? Expect some more of them in the proposed state budget.

[mike]

Let me get this straight...
I cant get an employment break not even for an interview because I'm not bi-lingual
I'm also told that I'm over qualified.
I'm white and 48.Thats 3 strikes if you ask me.
So now that the unemployment is practically gone
I've got only social programs to provide for my family and I
And now Arnie whats to possibly eliminate that.
Now can someone direct me to that Sacramento tent city?

[Parker]

IHSS is a necessity, it saves the state 8-10 times what it costs, so cutting that makes NO sense. However, there are people on it that truly can get by without the services and they should be cut from the program. These are not fraud people, these are those who have difficulty, but could make their own meals and clean their own homes. Arnold says it has fraud in it, but his own office found that there was less than 1% fraud. It's just fiscally responsible to keep this program. Hoiwever, INMATES (and many are illegals) are getting MUCH more aid than our disabled and elderly are, that's ridiculous. Privatize the prisons. Make it impossible for illegals to get services and most will go back to Mexico, saving the state billions. Make CA ENGLISH only, saving millions in printing and thousands of people just to translate, besides forcing teachers and aids and most social services people to learn Spanish. Cut corp taxes to push employment hiring, cut their insurance rates with things like Workman's Comp as much of that is a scam anyway - some people need it, some are scammers, but the RATES companies pay makes them shrink, not grow. DRILL FOR OIL HERE. BUILD GREEN JOBS HERE - STOP MAKING THE PANELS AND WIND TURBINES IN CHINA!!! Make it easier for businesses and people to thrive... don't just cut cut cut without thinking about the consequences on every step.

[dave]

Am I the only one who sees the similarity between him and another Austrian leader?

[Dina]

> ok, he's going to eliminate IHSS, what alternative does he have to offer? What is going to happen to all these elderly and disabled people who need help at home, will he provide Bording Care @ affordable rates, b/c now we don't have any at all, unless you are able to pay $ 3,500 - 5.000 per mos.
And there are no bad @ SNFs, so if people will not get help at home where should they go to get help?

[Sam]

Yay!!!! All the years of personal disciplines on saving money, living humbly, embracing self-reliance, and trying to teach my kids nothing in this world is free, really pay off. We wouldn't even know if the state of California government still exists. We pay everything ourself. Try it and you don't even complain about who you vote for. Because the government can only be as good as its people who create it.

[BAZ987]

The governor has a legal responsibility to his citizens. All benefits to illegal immigrants should be cut first. This should save a few billion dollars.

[gael]

Reduce excessive pensions (no monthly payments over 2000), reduce the pay of all government workers making over 80,000 a year, roll back corporate tax breaks, get rid of prop 13. Legalize marijuana and tax it. Don't cut health care, education, or public transit, people will need those things to weather the economic downturn.