States: We can’t afford costs tied to $5B emergency fund, By Michael Grabell and Chris Flavelle, September 7, 2009, USA Today: “Many states are walking away from a $5 billion federal fund that some economists say is a swift and effective way to help people hurt by the recession and stimulate the economy. The states say they can’t collect their share of the emergency fund for needy families because they can’t afford to put up the 20% of costs required by the federal government. Six months after the money was made available under the $787 billion federal stimulus program, only 27 states have applied for funds, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Most have tapped only a small fraction of the money they’re entitled to – less than 15% in most cases. As a result, as much as $1 billion could be left on the table when the program ends in September 2010, estimates Jack Tweedie of the National Conference of State Legislatures. The fund can be used to help states cope with growing welfare caseloads, create temporary jobs for the unemployed, pay rent for families facing eviction and immediately put cash in people’s pockets…”
Day: September 8, 2009
Schools and Homeless Children
Surge in homeless pupils strains schools, By Erik Eckholm, September 5, 2009, New York Times: “In the small trailer her family rented over the summer, 9-year-old Charity Crowell picked out the green and purple outfit she would wear on the first day of school. She vowed to try harder and bring her grades back up from the C’s she got last spring – a dismal semester when her parents lost their jobs and car and the family was evicted and migrated through friends’ houses and a motel. Charity is one child in a national surge of homeless schoolchildren that is driven by relentless unemployment and foreclosures. The rise, to more than one million students without stable housing by last spring, has tested budget-battered school districts as they try to carry out their responsibilities – and the federal mandate – to salvage education for children whose lives are filled with insecurity and turmoil…”
State Children’s Health Insurance Program
- 10,000 working parents to lose health insurance, By Casey Newton, September 8, 2009, Arizona Republic: “Nearly 10,000 working parents will lose their health insurance this month in the wake of state budget cuts, leaving some families with nowhere to turn as they seek affordable coverage. KidsCare Parents, a program that provides low-income families with inexpensive insurance, will end Sept. 30. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which administers the program, could not pay the $6 million annual cost following cuts by the Legislature. The state faces a $3 billion budget shortfall. The move comes as demand for government assistance is skyrocketing. Arizona has lost an estimated 240,000 jobs since December 2007, and AHCCCS has added 150,000 people to its rolls since January…”
- Legislature gets one right: Healthy Kids continues, Editorial, September 8, 2009, Vacaville Reporter: “The California Legislature came together last week and accomplished the seemingly impossible. On a bipartisan vote — unanimous, even, in the Assembly — it found a way to keep more than 600,000 children from losing their health insurance. More amazing, it found a way to pay for the Healthy Families program. During the summer’s contentious budget negotiations, the Legislature sliced $144 million from the program that provides medical insurance for children whose parents cannot afford it. Then the governor lopped off another $50 million in a line-item veto. Both were insane decisions. Not only does the federal government contribute $2 for every $1 the state puts into the program, but Healthy Families has consistently proven that it saves taxpayers money in the long run…”