Haley Barbour to turn down close to $75 million in federal Medicaid funds

I guess I am growing numb to these type of decisions by Governor Barbour. While I may be outraged, I am not surprised at all. Haley Barbour has decided to go ahead with the plan to slash Medicaid by $14 million in his efforts to trim the state budget. Because of the way the federal funds are matched to state funds, Mississippi's most vulnerable citizens will stand to lose close to an additional $75 million in matching federal Medicaid dollars.

Clarion Ledger:

More than 20 percent of Mississippi's population is on Medicaid - a state and federally funded program that provides medical care to those who can't afford it.Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said the governor does not support a House plan to transfer $14 million from the health care trust fund.

Covering the $14 million in state funds would prevent a nearly $90 million loss when federal matching dollars are considered, Mitchell said.

Twenty percent of this state relies on Medicaid for health care. That is close to a half million Mississippians. That twenty percent includes a lot of good Mississippians who have families that depend on this program. I cannot imagine a situation where any leader of Mississippi would want to turn down $75 million in federal money for our poorest Mississippians to have access to health care for a paltry $14 million out of a $500 million round of budget cuts.

Meanwhile:

For the first time in 19 months, the state is expected to meet - and, in fact, may slightly exceed - revenue projections.
Revenues as of Tuesday for March were about a quarter of 1 percent above estimates, largely because of a strong showing in corporate income tax receipts.

By restoring the $82 million to education, while making the additional cuts to Medicaid, the Governor is trying to pit the two pillars of Democratic policy against each other. Mississippi progressives are given a false dichotomy of choosing between education or health care for the poor. After all anything that benefits the underprivileged in Mississippi such as Medicaid, or the opportunity for a good education are prime targets for the Governor's hatchet. Never mind that there are emergency and rainy day funds that could be tapped for the time being. As usual, Haley will get his pound of flesh from the poor.

The tobacco tax that could

As the 2009 Legislative Session approaches, it looks like we'll have another go at the tobacco tax.

In an AP article today:

Two businessmen are petitioning to let Mississippi voters decide whether to increase the state tobacco tax and designate the revenue for Medicaid.

Clarksdale attorney and restaurateur Bill Luckett and Jackson advertising consultant Rory Reardon filed an initiative Thursday in the secretary of state’s office. They have a year to gather about 90,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

And, somewhat surprising, Barbour is not completely opposed to the idea of raising the tobacco tax. Don't get too excited, though. His proposal is so low, the whole thing will inevitably get bogged down, and the King of Tobacco could still come out looking good to his tobacco buddies after all.

Gov. Haley Barbour said this week that he’ll ask the 2009 Legislature to increase the cigarette excise tax, which is now 18 cents a pack. Barbour proposes adding 24 cents a pack on premium brands and 43 cents on off-brands.

I guess off-brand folks don't hire big-time DC lobbyists.

If we do have a ballot measure, which would be preferrable over whatever plan Barbour devises for his buddies, it will be interesting to see what numbers the legislature comes up with, and how much money will be poured into the state on such a measure.

This is why people like Jim Hood

Attorney General Jim Hood sees more negative press than positive, but that shouldn't stop those of us who support him from reminding the general masses why Hood is so well loved.

Here's a reason, from a Clarion-Ledger article:

The 31-year-old executive director of a program for 182 truant youths accused of making more than $1 million in false Medicaid claims is facing a 14-count indictment , Attorney General Jim Hood announced today.

The negative press, you can bet, is fueled by a concerted GOP attack effort. The positive press comes from Hood doing his job.

Which one do you think people will believe in 2011: political hot air or hard work and integrity?

Baria is bringing new life to Senate

Sen. David Baria of Bay St. Louis is a much-needed shot in the arm for Senate Democrats. His latest stand comes against Barbour's newest Medicaid proposal.

From this Clarion-Ledger article:

Fourteen Democrats in the Mississippi Senate filed court documents today, arguing that only lawmakers can decide how state programs are funded.

“The circumstance that the legislative process has not yet produced full funding, or that the governor’s preference in the method of funding has been frustrated in the Legislature, does not grant the governor constitutional license to bypass the Legislature and impose his tax plan by executive degree,” State Rep. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, wrote.

The Senate is an unfortunate place for Democrats. It's not that we don't have good Democrats over there. In fact, we have some of the greatest Democrats this state has to offer sitting in the Senate. Some of the smartest, some of the toughest, some of the most seasoned.

It's that they are missing cohesive, strong, visionary, unafraid leadership in the Senate. If they had that, then Democrats would control the Senate right now. After all, there are more Democrats than Republicans, and the Democrats could have voted to change the rules and vest the power normally given to the lieutenant governor in the president pro temp.

Some of those guys over there are beaten down. They've tried and tried to make change, but when they look to some of their colleagues, they get no support. That's the case with many in the Black Caucus, who feel that some of their rural white fellow senators cave on important issues because of fear of political retribution from their home district. Those are legitimate fears, but it's still frustrating to watch.

But Sen. Baria, whose district I would not describe as rural, is proving that he's not scared of standing up and taking a risk for what he knows is right. His district is not an overwhelmingly Democratic district. He could -- and most likely will -- face stiff competition in 2011.

That said, Baria's not acting as someone who fears the future. If his stances mean political retribution is around the corner, I suppose he's preparing for that fight when it comes.

Baria is a man who has seen real tragedy in his life. If you think he's scared of a few partisan hacks calling him names or some weak-as-water colleagues coming down on him, you better reconsider quickly.

Here's hoping that Baria can re-energize some of the old guard Dems in the Senate who once were filled with the same fight as he is showing now.

Hood will not defend Medicaid suit

This will be called partisan politics. Everything that comes from the AG is called partisan politics. You want to know why? Because he's "the last man standing" among statewide Democrats.

First, the issue at hand: Hood's decision not to represent the state against claims that Gov. Barbour's latest Medicaid plan is in someway improper.

Hood's reasoning is sound:

"Due to the specific issues involved in this case, we would not be able to raise defenses that could conflict with the powers of my other two clients — the legislative and judicial branches,” Hood said.

Hood's office does not represent Gov. Barbour. He represents the state as a whole. And it must be his office's opinion that if he represented the governor -- that would be the executive branch -- then he would be doing a disservice to the Legislature or the courts -- that would be the legislative and judicial branches, accordingly.

Now, on to another tidbit.

If you look at the 2007 elections, you'll notice an interesting point: Jim Hood won more votes than any other candidate running. Here's a ranking of statewide vote-getters:

1. AG Hood: 440,017
2. Treasurer Reeves: 436,833
3. Lt. Gov. Bryant: 431,747
4. Gov. Barbour: 430,807
5. SOS Hosemann: 425,228
6. Insurance Comm. Chaney: 414,718
7. Auditor Pickering: 399,279
8. Ag Comm. Spell: 371,191

From where I'm sitting, I see a man who is admired for doing the right thing, for being tough and for not being scared to make tough calls.

I also see a GOP attack machine that is dead set on making sure he doesn't win re-election in 2011, or better yet, beating ol' Phil for the top spot.

Haley the Hatchet

Monday's Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal addressed an issue of utmost importance, Medicaid funding. While I agree with half of the editorial regarding the necessity of raising the tobacco tax, I find the proposal of Democratic capitulation on Medicaid at best unnecessary.

First let us look at what the Daily Journal got right:

Mississippi's cigarette tax is unconscionably low. At 18 cents per pack, it's nearly $1 below the national average, and that's in the unhealthiest state in the nation.

For two-plus years now, there's been a major push to raise it, at one point in combination with a cut in Mississippi's grocery sales tax - the highest state levy in the nation.

A majority of legislators favor raising the cigarette tax. Several statewide opinion polls show strong public support for an increase. Numerous public health professionals and groups have endorsed it.

The Daily Journal is dead on target with their assessment of our ridiculously low tobacco tax relative to the rest of the nation. The editor omitted the reason for the "unconscionably low" tobacco tax. Haley Barbour at one time was the highest paid tobacco lobbyist in Washington. This has been well documented. He would rather raise the grocery tax, the most regressive tax known to man, than raise taxes on his cronies at Philip Morris.

Now for the part where the Daily Journal drops the ball:

In short, a cigarette tax to fund Medicaid is politically untenable at this point. There are two alternatives for the House, in spite of periodic talk of other options: 1) Accept Barbour's position and the plan prepared, if reluctantly, by the state Hospital Association, or 2) Continue the stalemate and watch Barbour put major Medicaid cuts into effect.

The House leadership has taken what it considers a principled stand on the tobacco tax and says Barbour doesn't have to cut Medicaid. But the fact remains that he will. It's simply not worth the impact on people needing health care to push that position any farther -in spite of perceptions that Barbour is being stubborn and inflexible, and perhaps a desire by some to see him ensure some self-inflicted political damage.

Is yielding to the governor's position political surrender? Only in the short term, and anyway, politics can't rule the day on this one. Sure, Barbour has his own political axes to grind, but the House could end this mess by agreeing to the Hospital Association plan and calling the governor's hand on his promise about the cigarette tax.

I disagree with the assessment rendered. The money is there to keep Medicaid running well into the spring of 2009. The legislature will convene after the new year and will have plenty of time to address the shortcoming. There is no need for the Governor to make the huge monthly cuts he is threatening.

I am glad he is seeing the light on the tobacco tax, but he has other plans in those regards. He is planning on teaming a tobacco tax increase with a state income tax cut, to make our state have an even more regressive tax structure than the current, which ranks 1 out of 50 as being the most regressive. With the incredible fiscal challenges our state is facing such as this current Medicaid crisis, what sense does it make to cut taxes?

Haley will NOT make cuts to Medicaid. There is no way he will inflict that much unnecessary pain on those who have the least just to make a political point. If he does, it is not only political suicide for Haley, who is probably done anyway, but a huge black on eye on the already punch drunk Republican brand in Mississippi. Need I mention Travis Childers or the Musgrove race?

The Mississippi Republican brand cannot afford for Haley Barbour to be the hatchet man in this one, although I have no doubt he would not miss a night's sleep if he were. Mississippi is trending blue whether some folks want to admit or not. The last two months presidential polls have had McCain with only a six point lead. Ronnie Musgrove is in a neck and neck race with Roger Wicker for the Senate seat vacated by Trent Lott.

I would slightly alter the title of the Journal piece, "Call his hand". I would phrase it "Call his bluff". Don't capitulate to the plutocrat. He has lost this round. The money is there to make it well into next session. Will it be "Haley the Hatchet"? Cotton Mouth and thousands of elderly and poor Mississippians want to know.

Haley Barbour, the ball is in your court

In a game of political chess played out in downtown Jackson, House Democrats came out smelling like roses. As you are well aware a special session has been called by Haley Barbour to deal with the $90 million budget shortfall in Medicaid. Haley Barbour's lackey Phil Bryant blocked consideration of tobacco taxes for the special session, because the governor did not list tobacco taxes as an agenda item. Raising the hospital tax is the only solution on the table to make up the Medicaid shortfall in the special session. Haley is threatening to make deep cuts in Medicaid to make up for the $90 million shortfall.

What the Democrats in the House did today was beyond genius. The budgetary year starts July 1. The $90 million will not come into play until next spring.

Before leaving, the Democrat-controlled House voted Friday, largely along party lines, to tell Republican Gov. Haley Barbour not to make any cuts in the program until at least February.

That is right! It is up to you Haley Barbour. The money is there to make it until next session. Will you make the deep cuts you have promised and throw Aunt May out of the nursing home? Will you make those deep cuts and deny the poor child living in HUD housing an opportunity for medical treatment? The ball is in your court Governor. Let us see the real Haley Barbour.

Marshall Ramsey cartoon from today's Clarion Ledger

Marshall Ramsey usually does some mighty fine work. Today's cartoon is exceptional. Please visit the Clarion Ledger to see more of Marshall's work, if you don't already take the paper.

Link to the Clarion Ledger

Marshall also has a blog which he udpates frequently,

Haley Barbour: My way or the poor people get it

Refusing to budge an inch on his insistence of raising hospital taxes, and more noticeably in his resistance to increase tobacco taxes, Haley Barbour is threatening to cut Medicaid by $375 million if the House does not capitulate to his demands. Speaker Billy McCoy has already brought compromise to the table, but the governor stands firm in his defense of big tobacco. So much for the sick, poor, elderly, and disabled on Medicaid, if Haley does not get his way you are out of luck. He would rather cut your benefits than raise taxes on tobacco.

The Commercial Dispatch had this to say,

The state Legislature resumes its special session Thursday to try resolving a Medicaid-funding stalemate that Republican Gov. Haley Barbour says will force him to make painful health care budget cuts next week if the Democratic-dominated House doesn’t agree to his demand for a hospital tax.Barbour and Senate President Phil Bryant say the compromise-seeking House must pass the Republican-led Senate’s tax bill or else see hospitals lose $375 million in Medicaid payments.

Spineless Phil Bryant, who should show his independence from the governor's office and get a solution passed, has proven to be another Barbour clone.

“I will not compromise the bill the Senate has passed for political purposes,” said Bryant, who’s also lieutenant governor and Barbour’s chief ally.

If the governor and his lackey don't get their way, the poor people of Mississippi are going to suffer.

Haley Barbour wants to raise taxes on the insured and sick

Haley Barbour came in to office on a pledge of not raising taxes. He stood by that pledge, even when at times his stance was to the detriment of Mississippi. Now we have Haley wanting to raise taxes on the sick and on the insured. What gives?

There is one entity that Haley will not stand up to, even for the benefit of his home state. Big Tobacco sleeps well with the former highest paid tobacco lobbyist at the helm in Mississippi. Barbour supported the regressive grocery tax over the hike in tobacco tax. He now supports the hike in the hospital per-bed tax instead of an increase in the third lowest nationally tobacco tax.

What happened to the no taxes Haley? His real home team Big Tobacco came calling and good ole Haley was more than happy to play his part. His resistance to any compromise, even when Speaker McCoy has brought compromise to the table, offers a glimpse of how deep his allegiance to the tobacco lobby runs.

Who will pay the hostpital tax increase that Haley Barbour is trumpeting? Well, if you have a deduction from your paycheck every month for health insurance, you will. The hospitals will pass the tax burden down to the sick. A large part of that will transfer to the insurance companies, who in turn will raise YOUR rates.

So in rewind Haley says NO tax to:

Haley says let's DO tax:

Barbour stops at nothing to protect Big Tobacco

Tomorrow, legislators return to Jackson to try once again to fill the $90 million hole in Medicaid.

Governor Barbour wants to tax hospitals to fill the gap, and while hospitals have agreed to pay such a tax, they would rather tobacco be taxed.

By threatening cuts the governor has attempted to force hospital administrators and employees to agree with his position. In fact, when questioned about their stated support for the governor's plan, representatives of the Mississippi Hospital Association testified to a House committee that they preferred the cigarette tax but were told by the governor that the hospital tax was the only option available. (Speaker of the House, Billy McCoy, to the Clarion Ledger.)

The tax will inevitably be passed on to the patients and insurance companies (because premiums aren't already high enough).

The House wants to levy a cigarette tax, not a big surprise since they were pushing this during the regular session as well.

According to numerous studies and sources, including the Partnership For a Healthy Mississippi:

Tobacco-related illnesses claims the lives of 4,700 Mississippians every year.

Tobacco use by pregnant women is a leading cause of low birth-weight infants.

Cigarette smoking doubles the likelihood of a stroke.

Teens who smoke are 3-times more likely as nonsmokers to use alcohol, 8-times more likely to use marijuana, and 22-times more likely to use cocaine.

Cigarette smokers are 2 - 4-times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers.

Exposure to secondhand smoke has been shown to hamper cognitive development
in children.

Tobacco's Impact to Mississippi Taxpayers
Treatment of tobacco-related illness costs the Mississippi Healthcare System $719 million each year.

Treatment of tobacco-related illness costs the state's taxpayer-supported Medicaid program $264 million each year.

For every individual Mississippian who pays taxes, $534 of your money goes to Medicaid pay to treat tobacco related illness in the state.

Tobacco use is linked to $1.41 billion in lost worker productivity annually in the state.

Amazingly, Barbour has turned this in to a Democrat vs. Republican issue. In order to protect tobacco, Barbour has pegged the Partnership as this liberal entity, dedicated to destroying our conservative values.

Obviously, if you want to improve the quality of your life and other Mississippians, and if you want to cut spending in Mississippi, you're a crazy left-wing liberal, or you support the Partnership.

Medicaid compromise needed

Our state's Medicaid program is in deep trouble due to a $90 million budget shortfall. A special session has been called to get something done or cuts will have to be made to this crucial program. Medicaid helps provide some level of health care to roughly one quarter of our population. This is a very serious issue to a lot of good people in this state.

Governor Haley Barbour has proposed to fill the gap with a per-bed tax on hospitals. This cost will ultimately be passed on to the patients. The Senate passed a bill that is in line with the governor. The House passed a bill that would use funds from a proposed increase in the tobacco tax to make budgetary ends meet. The governor has threatened to make severe cuts to Medicaid if his plan is not used.

Speaker Billy McCoy and House lawmakers have offered a compromise that would meet the governor in the middle. Meanwhile Haley Barbour has tried to paint McCoy as being an obstructionist. That seems funny to me, since the House has been willing to compromise, but not the governor.

The one issue presenting the greatest challenge is a $90 million deficit in the Division of Medicaid, which provides health care for about 600,000 elderly, disabled and poor pregnant women and children.

The governor has said he will begin making cuts in the health care agency when the fiscal year begins on July 1 if the Legislature does not pass a $167.25 per bed, per day tax on hospitals based on their patient count in 2006.

The Senate has passed the plan. The House leadership prefers a hike in the cigarette tax, though it has offered a partial hospital tax/cigarette tax compromise.

In Sunday's Daily Journal key House Democrats offered hope that Lt. Governor Phil Bryant will break with the Governor and come to a compromise.

"I think the lieutenant governor is poised to do good things," said House Public Health Committee Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville. "...It would take courage, independence and a spirit of compromise.

"But I think he has it in him." ...

...Senate Public Health Committee Chairman Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said Bryant already has broken with the governor on this issue. Early on, Barbour proposed placing a gross revenue assessment on the hospitals.

Bryant, Bryan said, rejected that proposal because of concerns the plan would result in the bankruptcy of some small hospitals.

Expect a lot of rhetoric out of the governor's office blaming Speaker McCoy and House Democrats for obstructing his plan. The real question is, which side offers compromise and which side offers the sound and fury of hot air?

Governor calls a special session

Now that the Republicans have lost the 1st CD and Governor Barbour has a bit more free time on his hands, he's called a special session to address the following issues:

1. Reauthorization of the Mississippi Departmart of Employment Security
2. Medicaid funding
3. HB 1136 (which he vetoed)- dealing with the trade of copper and other metals
4. Prohibiting casino expansion
5. Changing current toll roads laws

The Legislature will be back on Wednesday.

The session has ended!

The 2008 Regular Legislative Session has ended! While they will probably be back soon for a special session on Medicaid, the big part has ended.

It has been quite a ride with the new legislators, starting back to the Speaker of the House being re-elected by one vote, to funding education, to giving Entergy the right to charge ratepayers for plants that may or may not ever be built.

Please share your thoughts on this year- the good and the bad bills. Which legislators worked for the people of Mississippi, and which ones didn't. What should we be looking out for next year?

Medicaid bill in Senate committee

Just an FYI- the Medicaid bill (HB1013) that provides the much-needed funding for the poor, elderly, and disabled of our state, is currently in the Senate Public Health & Welfare committee and the Finance committee.

Our ever-so-faithful-to-Barbour Lt. Governor, Phil Bryant, has double-referred this bill, which we know usually means the end for a piece of legislation. However, the Communities for a Clean Bill of Health are asking everyone to call Phil Bryant about this bill, which will fund Medicaid by increasing the cigarette tax by $1.

As Rep. Dirk Dedeaux, author of the bill, said, "This isn't made-up." There is a dire funding crisis for Medicaid this year.

Call your senator (and Phil Bryant) today and tell them to get this bill out of committee and on to the floor!

Click here to see which Senators are on which committee.

The Demon Barbour of Mississippi

From Campus Progress:

Two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf region, states like Mississippi are still struggling to provide relief for their residents. [MSNBC]

For example, in Mississippi, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking for another $39 million in the new budget to help the elderly and disabled who were forced from their homes after Katrina.

And after he was elected to take outgoing Sen. Trent Lott’s place last month, new Sen. Roger Wicker promised, “It’s not unrealistic to think that the Congress will provide another billion dollars, that’s billion with a ‘b,’ for additional appropriations involving the coast.”

Waaaaait. What about the tons of money the state has already received to help victims of the storm, you ask?

Gov. Haley Barbour is spending it on lots of other, non-Katrina stuff. Two weeks ago, for example, he took $600 million from post-Katrina relief funds and decided to spend it on improvements to the state’s port.

Today he wants to take another $25 million of recovery money to build a new four-lane highway to help a Toyota plant 300 miles away from the Gulf (and located nowhere near the storm zone.) [MSNBC]

A little more about this money:

After the storm hit, the federal government told Mississippi it would pay some of its Medicaid bills so the state could take the money they’d normally spend on the program —about $368 million—to make a Katrina fund.

So Barbour took the money from Medicaid… yet didn’t spend it on Katrina aid… and now wants to build Toyota a new road.

Reilly Morse, with the Mississippi Center for Justice: “Taking money from Medicaid and putting it into a road? Is there no low-income need so sacred that Gov. Barbour won’t rob it?”

It’s not like the program that provides medical assistance to the poor is exactly flush with cash. The state’s Medicaid program is now broke, broke, broke. The state faces a $90 million shortfall between now and June 30 and a whopping $170 million shortfall next year.

Check it out at Campus Progress!

The Stories That Fuel Steve Holland's Passion

The ground rule, they have told me, for writing a post on this blog is that I am not supposed to be writing about "why I am running for Congress." Tough rule. When you are a candidate for office, you want to make as many inroads as you can. But I will do the best I can.

I want to tell you two quick stories. I have always liked stories, but what Southerner doesn't. And I guess it is the reason that Mississippi has produced all the wonderful writers. One of these stories has a bad ending, the other one a better ending.

When Katrina hit, like so many thousands of others, I went down to view the devastation. And I went to check on an old friend. When I found him, his house was devastated and we sat back and surveyed everything. How to describe the devastation: the crumbling bricks, the downed trees, the buckled roads. For those of you who saw it first hand, you know what I am talking about.

As we were standing there, trying to make sense of things, trying to process the immensity of this natural disaster, I began to notice a smell. We thought that perhaps it was a small animal, and so we began scavenge through the brick and the rubble, moving around what we could, and then we made a terrible discovery: the corpse of a senior citizen, the neighbor of my friend. It was the coda to the terrible symphony that had played itself out during those terrible August days. So not only did my friend have to deal with the shock of losing his home, and his business, but his personal grief was compounded by this terrible discovery.

I tell you this little story as awful and gruesome as it is, to point out the reality of the utter despair and desolation that was visited upon the coast. Later, and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, I was in a session of the House and we were visited by numerous representatives from the coast, almost all of them begging for help from the state government. A number of these folks were Republican in orientation and had for years supported a political philosophy of "starving the beast," of cutting government services. After listening to the pleas for help, I could no longer hold my tongue and I told them in as polite a way as I could that you could not starve the beast, and then when you need help expect the government to be able to function. That's why I fought for the Katrina benefits advocated by the Mississippi House of Representatives.

The other story involves a neighbor friend of mine, a mentally retarded man who was suffering from cancer. During the medicaid crisis, he was told by his doctor that he was going to cut off his chemotherapy. Let that sink in for just a moment. In these the United States of America, a mentally retarded man was gong to, in effect, be sentenced to death because, in effect, he was powerless, poor and mentally retarded. At that moment, in a fit of anger, I called the doctor's office and let it be known that this was not going to be happening. And if it did, there would be some kind of consequences. His chemo was not stopped.

I tell you these stories not so much to toot my own horn, because the fact is, any feeling human being would have responded similarly. I tell you these stories to point out the fact that there is a place for proper government intervention in society. That politics HAS consequences.

For 25 years now, the Republicans have attacked the government; they have starved the beast. As a result, we have a degrading infrastructure and the middle class has been losing out. And it has to stop. Sadly, the previous office holder of the First Congressional Seat has been part and parcel to this political philosophy.

It is worth remembering that for decades, the First Congressional Seat was held by Jamie Whitten. Jamie Whitten didn't try to starve the beast. He knew that there was a proper place for government and he believed in constituent service, making sure that the folks back home had a voice in Washington and that their needs were taken care of as much as possible.

That is what is shaping up in this election, the differing philosophies between the political parties. Because elections have consequences.

--Steve Holland

Steve Holland's Website

Outrage: Haley Barbour To Divert Hurricane Money To North Mississippi Road Construction

Barbour: Use storm money for Toyota, rainy day By NATALIE CHANDLER

"We still have people down there in FEMA (trailers)," said Rep. Frances Fredericks, D-Gulfport. "Why can't we take the money and make conditions better, or at least livable, for those it was intended to help?"

Sen. Debbie Dawkins, D-Pass Christian, said, "There is a perception on the Coast that the governor controls the money, and he is spending it in other places. Until (recovery needs) and Medicaid get addressed, I'm not going along with any half-baked ideas about road paving."

Latest Haley Barbour Outrage - Pine Belt Progressive

...it’s not about “taking responsibility” for oneself, it’s about the fact that the governor has put our recovery money into everything but rebuilding the housing that is needed for these people to move out of those trailers...

Go to the links. You need to read this.

Mississippi Center for Justice Press Conference

The Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ) will be hosting a press conference for the release of our their new research document:

Losing Ground: Declines in Health Coverage for Children and Families in Mississippi.

It will be held at 9:30 am Tuesday, January 29, at the Jackson Medical Mall (Center stage). This will begin their major push to end the face-to-face requirement for Medicaid recipients. It is expected to be attended by several influential persons. Get out and show your support!

The Governor's State Of The State

He issues he addressed are important.

He said we should fully fund education.

I agree.

He said we need to find a way to fund Medicaid responsibly.

I agree.

He said we need to act to expand economic progress and opportunity.

I agree.

He said we need to root out inefficiency and waste.

Again I agree.

Governor Barbour and state legislative leaders agree on what the major issues are.

What they will disagree over is how to accomplish those goals.

One example is that the governor wants to fill the Medicaid gap by forcing a fee (read tax) on public and private hospitals.

Opponents to that idea say that such a move would only cause hospitals to pass along higher costs to already burdened patients.

That might be a tough sell.

The good news is that unlike at the national level Democrats and Republican in this state appear to agree on the issues that are important. We're going to have a spirited debate this session and I think that too is a good thing.