California Assembly Democrats are in disarray over what they should include, versus what they should cut in the state’s upcoming budget; a budget that will be overdue once again. Unfortunately, the majority of these lawmakers have been more fixated on ensuring that their interests are accounted for, rather than worrying about how they can rectify the state’s $20 billion overspending problem.
Regarding the Golden State Democrats’ inability to get the state’s budget back on the right track, The Sacramento Bee reports:
Members of the two-house legislative committee working on the state budget – especially its dominant Democrats – have spent much of the week lamenting that they don't have enough money to satisfy all demands, including their own.
Shedding further light on the profligacy of California Democrats, The Sacramento Bee reports that they are currently working to fund the medical residency at the Charles Drew University. This particular medical residency happens to no longer exist; ridiculous. According to The Bee: “The Assembly's budget writers wanted to give Drew $12.7 million, even though the Legislature's budget analyst, in a private memo, noted that Drew's medical residency program no longer exists since its affiliated hospital, King/Drew Medical Center, lost its accreditation.”
Unfortunately, the $8.7 million that the Assembly’s already underwritten allocation of (less than the initially desired $12.7 million) for Drew’s medical residency does not reflect wise spending. Regarding the Assembly’s plans for this non-existent residency, The Bee correctly argues:
…just because it's gotten the money in the past, or just because a former legislative colleague lobbied for it, doesn't wash in an era of multibillion-dollar deficits, wholesale slaughter of basic services, and wrangling over whether taxes should be raised…
Sadly, this is just the latest example of lawmakers fiddling while Sacramento burns, and further evidence that California Democrats have no interest in actually governing or righting the state’s fiscal ship. At this point, it would take some serious spending cuts to offset the reckless spending practices that California Democrats show no intention of abating.