Faced with the most severe budget crisis since the Great Depression, governors across the ideological spectrum are embracing the politics of austerity in a desperate effort to balance the books.
Democratic and Republican governors alike are sounding similar themes, as they slash once sacrosanct programs such as those covering education, health care for the poor and aid to hard-pressed local governments. Cutbacks on the state and local levels are expected to be a major drag on the economic recovery.
Some of the deepest and most politically painful reductions have been proposed by Democratic governors in traditionally liberal states that offer a wide range of programs for the poor and generous benefits for public employees. With federal stimulus money being phased out and state tax receipts only beginning to recover from the steep economic downturn, these governors say they have been left with little choice.
"You are seeing some interesting scrambling of partisan politics," said Susan K. Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States. "Governors do not have the luxury of being ideological, particularly when they have huge budget gaps to close."
Last week, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) called his state "functionally bankrupt" as he proposed closing most of a $10 billion budget gap by reducing funding for education and Medicaid.
In California, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has proposed closing a $25 billion budget gap by cutting salaries for non-union state employees by 10 percent and slashing funding for higher education by as much as 20 percent. He also has threatened to cut funding for K-12 education unless voters extend a series of temporary tax increases.
"The times call out for vision and for discipline," Brown said last week in his State of the State message. "Discipline so that we live within the revenue which the state collects each year, and vision so that we rise above mere party, act as Californians first, and put our trust in the people."
Brown and Cuomo are among 29 new governors who have taken office as states face a collective budget deficit of $175 billion through 2013. That amount comes in addition to $230 billion in budget gaps that states filled between fiscal 2009 and 2011. Many experts say state tax revenue will not fully recover until the nation returns to full employment, which is not likely for several years.
Beyond their short-term fiscal crises, many states face pension and employee and retiree health-care costs that some say are unsustainable in the long run. Some governors already are curtailing pension and other benefits for new employees, although many analysts say it will take much more to bring their long-term obligations in line.
Read more at The Washington Post.