Governor proposes ending many programs that aid poor people

In a budget proposal presented by Gov. Swartzenneger yesterday, the governor said, "California should be in a position to safeguard its most vulnerable citizens. … We may want to, but we're not because our budget system is broken, and now I have no choice, and I stand here and call for the elimination of important programs."

MercuryNews.com tells us "[Swartzenneger] blamed federal judges for blocking cuts in social services last year, preventing the state, he said, 'from using a scalpel to go and trim some of these programs. We now have to use the ax to eliminate them.'"

Among programs the governor proposed to gut are In-Home Supportive Services, a program for the blind, disabled and elderly; and California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids [aka, CalWORKS], the state's welfare-to-work program. The governor proposes to deeply cut the Healthy Families Program, the state's insurance program that serves children, teenagers and pregnant women. Democrats in the state legislature intend to strongly oppose the gutting and cutting the governor proposed in these three and other programs that aid poor Californians.

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