Chutzpah! Accidental Governor whines supplemental stimulus “bailout” of state governments is not enough

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Accidental Governor is a woman who knows no shame. When she first succeeded to office, she was opposed to the federal stimulus package but later went with her hat in hand to apply for Arizona's share of federal stimulus money. Later she claimed credit for "creating" jobs that were actually jobs "saved" by the federal stimulus funds. Hypocrite.

Yesterday, Congress passed a $26.1 billion supplemental stimulus "bailout" to state governments. All but two Republican House members voted against the bill. As I pointed out yesterday, GOP to state governments: "Drop Dead!"

After Arizona's entire Republican congressional delegation flipped the state of Arizona the bird on additional state stimulus funds, who did the Accidental Governor whine about? You guessed it, the Democratic Congress that just threw the state of Arizona a lifeline. Chutzpah! Apparently Jan Brewer never learned "don't bite the hand that feeds you."

Brewer is whining that the supplemental stimulus "bailout" to state governments leaves Arizona about $160 million short of what it needs to maintain its Medicaid program. New stimulus leaves AHCCCS $160M short:

The new federal law appropriates $236 million in new Medicaid money for the state, according to legislative budget staffers who reviewed it. But it would take close to $400 million just to keep the program running as it is now, without kicking anyone off, through June 30, 2011.

And that doesn't include an estimated $1 billion gap for the next fiscal year, said Paul Senseman, press aide to Gov. Jan Brewer.

"This is a halfway effort to pay for the damage they're doing the states," Senseman said.

The "damage they're (Congress) doing the states"? I oughta smack you on the back of your empty head.

Arizona would not be receiving another dime if it was up to Republicans in Congress. Zip. Nada. And the shortfall in Arizona's budget is due to a structural revenue deficit, the result of 20 years worth of fiscally irresponsible faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP tax cuts. How about getting rid of special interest tax exemptions and tax credits to start with, and if there is still a budget shortfall, to raise the marginal tax rates on the highest income earners? In other words, do your damn job!

But oh, no. The Accidental Governor wants to whine about the "maintenance of effort" provisions in the Affordable Care Act, which makes federal Medicare funding contingent upon maintenance of funding. The Accidental Governor and radical Republicans in the Arizona legislature want to do what they did earlier this year, before passage of the Affordable Care Act:

Earlier this year while trying to balance the budget, lawmakers voted to scale back eligibility, eliminating care for about 310,000 Arizonans effective at the end of December. They also voted to eliminate the KidsCare program, which is designed to provide nearly free health insurance for children of parents who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but are still considered the "working poor."

Arizona became the first and only state to eliminate the popular SCHIP Program (KidsCare in Arizona).

As I predicted earlier, demagogue Sen. Russell Pearce once again is making noise that "We'd be better off not to take the stimulus." He said the state could achieve even greater savings if it were freed from all the federal constraints. "It forces people to be a little more responsible," Pearce said, by cutting down on unnecessary visits.

Why does this pathological demagogue hate children who are sick so?