- Deep social services cuts outlined in California, By Jesse McKinley, January 10, 2011, New York Times: “Workers were removing the ornaments from the Christmas tree at the Capitol here on Monday morning, and much the same mood filled the legislative chambers as Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his Grinch-like budget. It included $12.5 billion in spending cuts, with a 10 percent cut in take-home pay for some state employees and deep reductions in social services. He also suggested a five-year extension of a bundle of taxes, a plan that requires voter approval, setting the stage for a potentially contentious special election in June. The budget is meant to address an estimated $25.4 billion deficit, just the latest shortfall for a state that has experienced a drumbeat of bad economic news in recent years. But Mr. Brown, who took office last week, cast the blame even further, saying the state’s leaders had spent the last decade balancing their books with ‘gimmicks and tricks and unrealistic expectations that pushed this state deeper and deeper into debt.’ But that period, Mr. Brown repeatedly emphasized, was over…”
- Pennsylvania subsidized health insurance for low-income people to end, By Don Sapatkin, January 12, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania’s subsidized health insurance for low-income working people will likely end next month, officials on Gov.-elect Tom Corbett’s transition team said Tuesday, leaving more than 40,000 people with less palatable options and dashing the hopes of more than 400,000 on the waiting list. ‘AdultBasic is not sustainable,’ said Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the transition, referring to the insurance program that began eight years ago under Gov. Tom Ridge, a Republican, and was expanded by outgoing Gov. Rendell, a Democrat. Staff for the incoming and outgoing governors traded accusations Tuesday about who was responsible for the program’s demise, but both agreed that the money – a combination of tobacco-settlement revenues and donations from the state’s four Blue Cross plans – would run out around Feb. 28 for the fiscal year that ends June 30, and that no good alternative was in place…”
- Corbett team negotiates health care for working poor, By Brad Bumsted, January 11, 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Leaders of Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett’s transition team said yesterday they worked out a plan with insurance companies to continue providing coverage to the working poor, but at significantly higher premiums than people pay now. Corbett’s team charged that the outgoing administration of Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell unnecessarily delayed notification to people in the adultBasic program and failed to live up to an agreement to provide state money to extend the program. Coverage under the program expires Feb. 28 because of a shortage of money. About 45,000 people receive adultBasic coverage…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty