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Bush Budget Proposal Wrong For Ohio, Wrong For Kids

The budget proposal released by the President is wrong for Ohio and wrong for kids. At a time when 242,040 Ohio children lack health insurance, 577,332 Ohio families cannot always afford enough food, and 593,620 Ohio families pay more than half of their income for rent, action is required to help working families meet basic needs and give their children a decent start in life.

"The State of Ohio continues to struggle to resolve its most pressing problems of school funding and health coverage to provide a better, more promising life for its citizens. Now, the president has proposed cutting these funds, leaving our state government holding the bag,” said Amy Swanson, Executive Director of Voices for Ohio’s Children.

Yet the President’s budget weakens vital services like health care to help pay for tax cuts that provide windfall gains to the very wealthy while saddling future generations with large debts. For example, it provides inadequate funds for children’s health insurance, placing health coverage for many low-income children at risk and undermining state efforts to cover more uninsured children. In addition, the President proposes roughly $26 billion in Medicaid cuts over five years, which would shift considerable costs to states. The budget proposal also suggests that the overall federal funding for juvenile justice programs be cut by 25% at a time when the Ohio is trying to make important reforms with already scant resources.

Federal funding that comes to Ohio for key priorities such as education, health care, and child care would be cut. Under the President’s budget, federal funding for these and other priorities (but excluding Medicaid) would be cut more than $416 million below the 2006 level, adjusted for inflation. These cuts would make it harder for our state to make progress, as more state resources would have to be diverted to fill in the holes created by federal funding cuts.

“Ohioans are counting on their representatives in Congress to make the right choices when it comes to the well being of our children. They can do so by taking the fiscally responsible course and rejecting the proposal that the President has offered,” Swanson said.

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Michael Gillis
(216) 533-8542
mgillis@vfc-oh.org