Friday, May 12, 2006
Utah politics is an amazing thing. It could cause its practitioners to hoist the banner of fiscal responsibility one minute, and walk away from human responsibility the next.
The position of Senate President John Valentine, which there is no room in the state's budget to renew Medicaid vision and also for dental coverage for 65,000 older, blind and disabled Utah's. And perhaps more accurately, that there is no consensus among lawmakers to find the necessary $4 million in a budget that had been touted as carrying a $1 billion surplus.
Valentine has some thing credibility when he talks about the budget. He has been one of the few questioning the irresponsible tide of politicians rushing to cut taxes. But his willingness to give up on this small bit of assistance to the some folks in great need, just for the sake of consensus, is not so much civility as weakness.
Beyond the very real human suffering that would result from the July 1 expiration of the vision and more dental benefits, the argument that the decision is responsible budgeting is simply not true.
Refusing to spend the necessary $4 million on those benefits would cause the state to turn down three times that much in federal matching funds that will be available. And the refusal to help people a little now only increases the need to help them a lot later.
The position of Senate President John Valentine, which there is no room in the state's budget to renew Medicaid vision and also for dental coverage for 65,000 older, blind and disabled Utah's. And perhaps more accurately, that there is no consensus among lawmakers to find the necessary $4 million in a budget that had been touted as carrying a $1 billion surplus.
Valentine has some thing credibility when he talks about the budget. He has been one of the few questioning the irresponsible tide of politicians rushing to cut taxes. But his willingness to give up on this small bit of assistance to the some folks in great need, just for the sake of consensus, is not so much civility as weakness.
Beyond the very real human suffering that would result from the July 1 expiration of the vision and more dental benefits, the argument that the decision is responsible budgeting is simply not true.
Refusing to spend the necessary $4 million on those benefits would cause the state to turn down three times that much in federal matching funds that will be available. And the refusal to help people a little now only increases the need to help them a lot later.
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