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.The federal governmentcould be using the nation s resources and energies, now diverted to wartime tasks such as homeland security, tostrengthen the social safety net. 49Budget CutsState Budget CrisesAs serious as the situation is for Medicaid, it is just one piece ofa larger picture of money troubles across the fifty state governments a rising tide of red ink, as far as the eye can see, toquote an Atlanta analyst s report to a Federal Reserve commit-tee in 2003.The National Conference of State Legislatures estimated the total budget gap in fiscal year 2004 for all the states,even after the federal bailout of 2003, at about $50 billion.Theexecutive director of the National Governors Associationcalled it the worst budget crisis states have faced since WorldWar II.They can t run deficits, so they must cut services.Theyavoid cuts to public safety, especially because of terroristthreats, and so the cuts fall mostly on services to poor people,and the rest on services to everyone dispensable things likelibraries, environmental protection, health services, and thelike. 19Journalist Nicholas Kristof wrote of returning to his home-town, Yamhill, Oregon, in 2003.He found a real, measurabledrop in the quality of life here. The schools had laid off teachers, increased class sizes, and slashed foreign-language instruction.Other nearby districts had to close schools early to savemoney, and in one town the police department was eliminated.The county cut out funding for prenatal care, mental health,and the jail s successful drug abuse program.When Missouriapprehended a criminal wanted in Oregon for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, they had to free him becauseOregon decided it could not afford to bring him back for trial.20Money to maintain highways also fell victim to the budgetcuts.Keeping up roads, bridges, and other infrastructure canbe postponed a few years, but it is catching up with us.Duringa period of high unemployment, it would be useful for the 50Budget Cutsgovernment to put money into highways and other infrastructure projects, to create jobs.But that would mean less moneyfor tax cuts and for the war.Many state colleges and universities hiked tuition ratessteeply, in addition to laying off workers, increasing class sizes,and instituting a host of cost-saving, service-reducing measures.If you can t afford tuition at a state school, you may missout on a college education.These are all costs resulting fromthe state budget cuts that citizens must pay in return for notpaying even more state taxes.The list goes on and on.Nebraska raised state college tuition20 percent in two years, and took away health care coveragefrom twenty-five thousand poor mothers.In Missouri, the governor ordered every third light bulb unscrewed to save on electric bills.Indiana closed campgrounds.In Oklahoma, teacherstook over janitorial duties and bus driving.Pleasant Ridge,Michigan, planned to sell advertising space on the side of policepatrol cars.21The war didn t cause these state budget crises.But it makesthem much worse by diverting the nation s attention and re-sources.Homeland security costs are the most direct way that thiswar hurts state and local budgets.In New York City, the antiterrorist program Operation Atlas costs an estimated $700million a year.The mayor asked Congress to pay it wouldcome to fifty-five cents a month per household nationally butCongress offered only $200 million.The rest, half a billion dollars, comes out of the New York City budget, one way or an-other.Constitutional law professor Jason Mazzone, fromBrooklyn, argues that the federal government should pay thewhole bill.The Constitution, he notes, says that the UnitedStates.shall protect each of [the states] against Invasion aterm that the founders understood to mean sneak attacks by 51Budget Cutssecret agents as well as open assault by gunships and invadingarmies.When the states ceded power to the federal governmentin matters of war, treaties, and foreigners, they received in re-turn the promise of federal protection, not just for the countryas a whole but for each of the states. A particular state mustnot be left vulnerable just because taxpayers in other statesprefer not to contribute additional money needed for its protection.The Constitution does not allow the federal government simply to leave it up to the states to protect themselvesfrom terrorist attacks. Mazzone concludes that if New YorkCity needs Operation Atlas, the federal government must payfor the program. Until Congress agrees, however, New Yorkhas to keep cutting its budget to pay for homeland security expenses including those mandated by the federal government.22States have used various gimmicks to deal with budgetshortfalls
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