The Budget

The public sector does play a role

People increasingly see the public sector as having a role to play in our common economic recovery. President Obama’s ambitious plan for federal stimulus was one of the many reasons he was successful in his campaign for the presidency.

We would be mistaken, however, to think that because Obama is now president and has passed his stimulus plan through Congress our economic challenges have been met.

The federal stimulus package, while very helpful to us here in Washington, is not a bailout bill for the states. Federal funds for the states are very narrowly categorized to specific programs, and come with a number of strings attached. It will optimistically help us address about one quarter of our budget shortfall at the state level.

The injection of billions of dollars in federal money into our state’s economy will undoubtedly provide a stimulus, and we’re happy to have it.

But our challenge is to not cancel outPresident Obama’s good work by taking an even greater amount out of our economy in the form of wholesale cuts to vital state services.

The Legislature is going to have to make significant cuts. But if we slam on the fiscal brakes at the same time the federal government is putting its foot on the fiscal gas, we could still end up in the ditch.

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