Senator Dianne Feinstein is all over the news today for being pessimistic on health care reform, as askew's diary points out. She's concerned about some costs of health care reform, which may be Senator-speak for "let's make a deal."
Dear President Obama: if I may make a modest proposal, give her what California needs. Specifically, give California -- and any other state who asks for it -- a backstop against default. It's called horsetrading for votes. It's politics. Just do it.
California's predicament, if you haven't heard, is dire. We have a perfect storm of a short term cash crunch, a longer-term economic problem, and a host of long term structural problems that make solutions hard to find. In today's News of the Obvious, the AP notes that California's schools are facing deep budget cuts, but they've already gone from the best in the nation to among the worst, and one wonders just how much worse deep budget cuts will leave them; and the Los Angeles Times editorializes today that a state budget deal is within reach, if only pigs would fly Republicans would vote for an oil severance tax and increases on the cigarette tax.
Short term, it's very simple: the state is $24 billion underwater, and is facing a complete, utter, and total shutdown of state government unless its Democratic-led legislature gives in to the minority blackmail veto threat and destroys its social safety net. Our Governator's budget includes killing off Healthy Families, California's version of S-CHIP (children's health insurance) and Medi-Cal, our version of Medicare for the poor.
In the meantime, we're facing a prolonged economic slump. We've been hit hard by the housing bubble's burst. Our unemployment is second only to Michigan's. Because our state is relatively dependent on income tax and not on property tax, a recession-caused drop in tax revenues has hurt us (along with MA, NY, OR, and SC) particularly hard:
Our long term structural problems are both complex and capable of being reduced to two words: Proposition 13. For more details than I can convey in one diary, read Calitics regularly.
Now, before politicians in 49 states start frothing and foaming like a venti latte, listen: It's a backstop, not a bailout. If California defaults on its loans, the federal government will guarantee the debts. Think of it as a parent cosigning a loan so that her somewhat irresponsible 22 year old kid can buy a car without a sky-high interest rate. California is not asking, and has never asked, for free money. The backstop is not a bailout, as dday has explained better than I can.
President, you can even demand that if any state obtains a backstop, its chief executive must resign. You got GM's CEO's resignation. You can do the same for the state that gave you 61% of our vote. You, I, and the National Radio & Television Correspondents know that Schwarzenegger's not-so-secret desire is to star in a reality TV show: I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!
So what's DiFi's problem with the health care reform bill? Why has she been sitting on the fence so long she's got splinters on her skirts? She's worried that it'll cost California money. In her own words,
Feinstein said she’s seriously worried that states like California, which is already considering cuts to public healthcare because of a state budget crisis, could be hurt by the emerging healthcare reform bill.
"All of us are very concerned. We don’t know the specifics of the plan," said Feinstein, who does not sit on either of the Senate panels with primary jurisdiction over the issue. "This is one of the big frustrations that accompany healthcare reform for those of us not on [the Finance] committee [who represent] big states with complicated and very serious healthcare industries."
The New York Times reported last week that lawmakers are seriously considering proposals to rein in the cost of health spending by shifting tens of billions of dollars of Medicare money away from high-cost areas to cover the uninsured in low-cost regions.
Feinstein said if leaders decide to shift billions of Medicare dollars away from California, "I can’t vote for it."
For DiFi, it's not about principles, it's about money. We can rage and call her names, which she may well deserve, or we can try to solve her problem. Her state is facing the destruction of its health care system, i.e., its larger-than-usual part of the 47 to 60 million uninsured Americans. So give her what California needs. Give California some assurance that its social safety net won't be shredded. Help her. Help us. Help America.
Sincerely,
The Late Great State of California and its 54 Electoral Votes