Michigan lawmakers prepare austerity budget

The state of Michigan confronts a $2.8 billion deficit... a shortfall that must be resolved by October 1 to avert a government shutdown...Granholm and Senate Republicans have crafted competing budget proposals that seek to enact $600 million and $1.2 billion in spending cuts, respectively...

The state’s beleaguered public education system is sure to undergo major cuts, with Granholm proposing to slash more than the Republicans...Granholm has proposed $30 million in cuts to higher education...The Senate Republican proposal would virtually eliminate state funding for early childhood education, while Granholm has proposed cutting about 6 percent of its budget...worker training programs appear likely to face substantial cuts.

Healthcare spending will also be substantially reduced, with Granholm proposing $150 million in total cuts from the Department of Community Health. The state will also exact major cuts to Medicaid, the national health insurance system for the poor that is funded jointly by the federal and state governments. The cuts could be as high as 8 or 12 percent...

Lawmakers will also cut welfare payments, in a state where one out of five children lives below the official poverty level...Lansing is also preparing to shift as much of the social crisis onto the state’s cities and towns as it can, with lawmakers preparing to cut somewhere between $74 million and $165 million from state aid to municipalities..

Food charities expressed fears over the potential cut...It is all but certain that Michigan’s elderly will see a $14-per-month cut in their Supplemental Security Income payments...The state’s only poison control call center was shut down in the summer. Granholm has proposed to close it down permanently...The Senate budget would cut funding to the state library system by $7.5 million, less than half of the legally obligated funding level of $15.4 million...Earlier, Granholm issued an executive order ending the state’s Department of History, Arts and Libraries, effective October 1, and dispersing the State Archives...

The Michigan State Fair, the oldest in the country, will no longer receive state funding...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/mich-s16.shtml