Federal aid urgently needed to avoid state budget catastrophes
CHICAGO— Looming behind the 17 million jobless tsunami hitting the country is another disaster: over $180 billion in accumulated budget deficits set to devastate state governments, according to a new study by the Pew Center for the States.
New York state budget: the money is there, if you look for it
Yesterday, Gov. David Paterson made a speech before an extraordinary joint session of the State Senate and Assembly, pushing the legislative bodies to accept his plan to alleviate the state's more than $3.2 billion deficit for this fiscal year (of which, four and a half months are remaining). Included in his plans are about $1.3 billion in cuts to schools, health care and municipal governments.
