The proposed $465-million reduction in California's welfare budget came two days after the governor promised that his second term would feature "post-partisan" cooperation.
It was met immediately with resistance from Democrats, who expressed bewilderment that the governor would attempt to cut welfare aid to children in the same week his administration is expected to move forward with a plan to expand health insurance to many of the same children.
Wow, so much for a Governor with even an ounce of compassion for poor children! I guess he doesn't really care about "post-partisan cooperation", either! Why target poor kids like this? Sorry. but I don't get it...
And neither do I get this:
"It's ironic that the governor is proposing healthcare for poor kids while taking away their breakfasts," state Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) said of the cuts, which would affect more than 40,000 families. "Even Republican Gov. [Pete] Wilson, at the time he negotiated welfare reform, agreed that children should not suffer for the behavior of their parents."
The plan alarmed advocates for the poor, who predicted that eliminating the cash payments of several hundred dollars a month would substantially increase the risk of homelessness for those families.
Schwarzenegger's proposal also would eliminate this year's cost-of-living increase for welfare recipients.
HUH??!! WTF??!! SO it's OK for poor kids to have health care, but not a place to live and food to eat. Again, I don't get Ahhnuld's "logic" here. Either we care about the well-being of these at-risk kids, or we don't. Yes, yes, I understand that this could be Ahhnuld's way of offering an olive branch to the wingnut GOPers in the Legislature...
But why sacrifice the needs of poor children, just so that there's less "welfare spending" in the budget, just so that the wingnuts can be a little happier with this?
If this is what Ahhnuld meant when he talked about being "bipartisan", then I don't want any of this...
And I don't think that all the California families living in poverty want it either.
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