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What the Media are Saying About State Budgets

The shortfalls are due in part to a weak economy that decreases tax revenues and increases the need for state services. But the states can only cut and tax and borrow so much. They need Congress and the White House to provide funds promised for homeland security, election and welfare reform, education and especially health care.

December 28, 2002, The New York Times, "The States are Hurting"

"Their [states] austerity will put a drag on the economy just as the president and Congress try to stimulate it. Analysts at Goldman Sachs figure state and local belt-tightening will shave as much as a half-point from the economy's growth so that overall fiscal policy will be no more tan neutral next year."
December 18, 2002, The Wall Street Journal, "Governors Seek Federal Aid As they Confront Crisis"

"Governors and state budget officers said the fiscal condition of the states was more dire than the condition of the national economy. The recession has reduced state revenues, especially personal income and capital gains taxes, Mr. [Raymond] Scheppach said, but the states' fiscal problems are also linked to long-term trends, like the increase in health costs and the growing importance of services in the economy."
November 26, 2002, The New York Times, "States are Facing Big Fiscal Crises, Governors Report"

"By far the biggest issue for states is their push for increased federal funding for Medicaid. With health-care costs rising rapidly - and the recession increasing caseloads - Medicaid spending spike by more than 13% in 2002, the largest annual increase since 1992."
November 26, 2002, The Los Angeles Times, "State Budget Crises Mount"

"A third of state budgets is tied up in health expenditures; they are only going up. A principal revenue source for many states, the sales tax, is out of sync with the economy; the tax misses services, which are growing part of the economy, and Internet sales, which are also growing. And so the sobering reality of life is a new federalism of an entirely different sort: The problem of the states is a national problem."
November 26, 2002, The Boston Globe, "New Governors Find Revenue Falling Short"

"With most states required by law to balance their budgets and many of the one-time financial fixes already used, the prospect is for more cuts. The danger is that cuts hurt the most vulnerable, including the poor who depend on Medicaid. Congress ought to find a way to help."
June 24, 2002, The Washington Post, "Help for the States"

Printed from the NGA web site.

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