Once again the Pinocchios in the Louisiana Senate have
missed their chance to cut their puppet strings, become real people, and break
free from their puppet master, Geppetto, known to many as Bobby Jindal.
We all should have known something was up when the Louisiana
House reworked Jindal’s proposed state budget plan eliminating all ‘one time’
monies and ‘vapor monies’ that were based upon legal settlements and
privatization deals that weren’t even finalized, and Jindal remained silent
about it all.
In his heart the puppet master knew his Pinocchios in the
Senate wouldn’t let him down and would restore his original smoke and mirrors
budget.
And while some programs will rejoice because their budgets
have been fully restored, and school vouchers will be fully funded, these
joyful moments will be short lived because the reality of the situation is the
money doesn’t presently exist to do most of these things
.
If this action by the Senate's Finance Committee becomes
final it will lead to yet another midyear budget deficit, resulting in
tremendous cuts made to education and health care services to fund the state
for the remainder of the fiscal year.
And just wait until next year, when all the one-time,
non-reoccurring funds are gone and ALL programs are cut to levels of a
catastrophic nature.
Geppetto may be a lame duck governor, but he is still very
much in control of his senators
.
There is, however, one last glimmer of hope. Any
Senate budget changes, in reality Jindal’s, must be agreed upon by the House.
However, with the deadline fast approaching for the end of
the legislative session and the pattern of the House’s previous years
actions of just caving in to get things over and go home, I suspect our
esteemed governor will get HIS budget pretty much the way he originally
proposed it.
Just remember at election time, it will be your senators to
blame.
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