Legislators proposing deep cuts in key services

By Mark Baker

Missouri House Leaders, particularly state representatives Allen Icet, Rick Stream, Ron Richard, Bryan Pratt and Steven Tilley, proposed deep budget cuts that eliminate nearly $300 million from the Departments of Social Services, Mental Health and Health and Senior Services.

The budget bills that were passed out of committee devastate social services funding, mental-health funding and services for laid-off workers and low-income families. These cuts will affect up to 70,000 Missourians who need state services. The cuts also eliminate more than 3,700 jobs in both the public and private sectors.

Eliminating jobs and cutting essential services are the exact opposite of what is needed to help repair Missouri's economy and restore growth.

House leaders refuse to accept hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal economic recovery act specifically intended to help states avoid service cuts and layoffs. While they are using economic recovery or stimulus money in other areas of the budget, Representative Icet and majority party leaders refuse to use federal dollars for social services or health care. This stance forgoes up to $1.8 billion in federal funds available to Missouri over the next few years.

The legislature may use economic recovery money in separate bills later in the session, and this would set a dangerous precedent as that approach allows legislators to make deep cuts to the core budget. In two or three years when our economy is growing again, the core budget for health and social services will have been diminished. They may use the stimulus for one-time expenditures, for tax rebates or for some combination of these. This will do nothing to help struggling individuals and families who need health, mental-health and other services.

Constituents need to be contacting legislators with their opposition to these drastic cuts to ensure a 2010 budget that protects jobs and state services and increases access to health care. There is no time to spare.

Here is what is at stake:

Cuts to existing services

• Cut eligibility for child care assistance for working families.
• $2.9 million in cuts to services for abused and neglected children.
• $48.7 million in cuts to mental-health services, affecting thousands of children and adults with severe mental illness or developmental disabilities and significantly reduces alcohol and drug treatment services.
• $4.4 million in cuts to Medicaid funding will jeopardize $7.8 million in federal Medicaid funds.
• $1.8 million in cuts for home and community-based services for seniors and people with developmental disabilities.
• $2.0 million in cuts to area agencies on aging, which will reduce comprehensive services for seniors including transportation, home delivered meals, health promotion and other services.
• More than $1.3 million in new funding for clothing and diapers for foster children, which eliminates and additional $329,000 in federal funding.

Health-care cuts

n Eliminates funding for governor's proposed expansion to 34,000 working adults. This proposal would bring almost $98 million in federal funds to restore Medicaid to low-income parents.

• Eliminates funding that would increase affordable health coverage for 20,000 children. Eliminating this $22.7 million in state general revenue forgoes $58.5 million in federal funds for children's health care.
• Eliminates $3.3 million in general revenue funding for outreach and enrollment efforts for children and families at community clinics and rural health centers. This cut eliminates $9.8 million in funding to support rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers.

These budget cuts will deepen Missouri's economic problems. Icet and Republican House leaders are doing the opposite of what our economy needs. Missouri House leaders refuse to use the federal economic recovery dollars to repair Missouri's economy. The federal economic recovery dollars given to Missouri are intended to do two things:

• Protect and create jobs that will stimulate the economy.
• Prevent states from cutting critical services during an economic downturn when larger numbers of people need the services.

However, instead of using the federal dollars as intended to protect jobs and services, Allen Icet and Republican leaders want to use the federal dollars for one time tax rebates, which does nothing for laid off workers and families who need health care, child care, and other services. This will turn away almost $1.8 billion over the next few years, funding that could be used to strengthen Missouri's economy.

These cuts to state programs and essential health and social services are cruel, unnecessary and harmful to Missouri's economy. These cuts will hurt working families facing layoffs, seniors facing rising prices, and children needing state services. In addition, Allen Icet is cutting critical services that foster independence in individuals with a mental illness, adults and children with developmental disabilities, and people living with disabilities.

Cutting these services will result in an increase in the number of people with serious mental illness having to utilize expensive emergency room and hospital-based care.

At a time when Missouri finds itself at an economic crossroads, the choices made by our elected officials should be so that it is reflective of a desire to provide a better opportunity for their constituents and their families.

Elected leaders of Missouri, our eyes are upon you. Choose wisely. Our very lives depend on it.

Mark Baker is president of the Central Trades and Labor Council of Cape Girardeau AFL-CIO.