Republican Governors Try to Defund Health Care, Pit Teachers Against the Poor

GOP Governors Try to Defund Health Care, Pit Teachers Against the Poor
By: David Dayen
September 1, 2010

As we get deeper into the electoral cycle and things get more polarized, it should come as no surprise that attitudes have become more polarized on health care. The health care question stands in for the political mood, which cuts against Democrats at the moment. Whether or not that holds depends on the implementation process. I don’t know that the public will be willing to wait until 2014 when the whole program comes on-line, and then evaluate it on the merits. But even if they do, at least a couple Republican Governors have decided to stoke their most committed partisans by deliberately trying to distort and defund the law.

In Nebraska, Governor Dave Heineman appealed to education groups in the state to fight to repeal the reform law, because expanding Medicaid would necessarily lead to less money for education. This pitting of one set of social programs against another has not yet worked, and even Bad Nelson has spoken out against it. Heineman bases his claim about Medicaid spending on bad data that inflates Nebraska’s responsibility by five-fold. It goes without saying that Heineman is running for re-election.

In Minnesota, would-be Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has taken this a step further — he’s banning all competitive grant requests related to the health care law.

This will not change any receipt of money required by the law, as the story says, but just shortchanges Minnesota on grants for things like wellness or prevention programs. Pawlenty’s successor will really be driving this when the law kicks into gear after he exits office at the beginning of next year, but it’s a nice campaign-ready slogan (“I blocked Minnesota from a government takeover of health care!”).

Read the full article at:

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/08/31/gop-governors-try-to-defund-health-care-pit-teachers-against-the-poor/

to take the entire country down if that is what it takes to prevent any successes for this administration...

THEY are the "terrorists" who are out to destroy this country...