July 1st 2009–8th Largest Economy in the World Remains Insolvent

posted at 8:50 am on July 1, 2009 by Rovin
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Schwarzenegger, Republicans stand ground on insisting budget gets resolved.

 Insolvent: Unable to meet debts or discharge liabilities; bankrupt.

The State of California remained at an impasse this morning after legislators and the governor were unable to come to agreements on how to settle a twenty-four twenty-seven billion dollar budget deficit.  While the Democratic leadership wants to “kick the can down the road”, Schwarzenegger has insisted on a complete budget. 

The state Senate, in late session, voted several times as midnight approached in a last-ditch effort to approve $3.3 billion in cuts to education and other programs and stave off, at least temporarily, the IOUs that California Controller John Chiang is set to begin issuing Thursday in lieu of some payments.

Democrats had been hoping to use the funds to help defray the state’s projected $24-billion deficit. But the money was allocated for the fiscal year that ended Tuesday, and after that it was too late to make the cuts.

“We have that duty to make sure that no one starves,” state Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) said as she pleaded with GOP senators for their votes. LINK

Some one should really call the LA county water board and check the contents going into Ms. Oropeza’s faucet.  That the Senate failed to reach any agreement in last nights deadline, cuts in education became unavailable for the 2009 budget, automatically adding 3.3 billion to the deficit.  But the LA Times, (in its splendid bias mode), attempts to shift the blame on the governor’s office:

In a letter sent Monday, however, two top Democratic lawmakers asked administration officials how the governor would replace the $3.3 billion in cuts they were trying to make. Mike Genest, the governor’s finance director, said the administration had not come up with a plan yet.

“I cannot imagine why a chief executive who has a year and half remaining on his term would want to put the state in the hole $3 billion more,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

Some one should also remind Mr. Steinberg that his Democratic “leadership” has had the same amount of time to put the state back on a track of fiscal balance/responsibility.  Steinberg and the Democrats, (who got a rude awakening from the voters recently by refusing to raise taxes), are now begging for a sixty day reprieve to continue looking for “answers”:

The Democratic legislators also sent a letter to the governor promising to put together a comprehensive reform package – in response to his demand – that would root out fraud in health and social service programs and streamline government, and send the plan to the governor in 60 days, Steinberg said.

But Schwarzenegger vetoed the two budget bills anyway, writing in his veto message to lawmakers: “I have been very clear that the Legislature must solve the entire deficit, must make the hard decisions now, and must not push the problem off to tomorrow.” LINK

 But Schwarznegger warned the legislators on June 2nd that they had to get serious about resolving the budget crisis:  “California’s day of reckoning is here,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in an unusual address before a joint legislative session. “We have no time to waste.”

Appearently, none of the Democrats running the states business were listening.

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