Story posted Thursday, December 3, 2009
We're Not Alone
By MAUREEN PEKOSH Contributing Columnist
We will be away from Glenview for a few months, but reading the local papers here in Tucson makes me feel at home. The problems at the State Capitol are similar to those in Springfield. The Republicans and the Democrats were unable to agree on what services to cut in order to balance the state budget, so the Republican majority in the state legislature adopted a state budget without a single Democratic vote. County government has a problem here, which Cook County does not face. Pima County, in which Tucson is located, is required to transfer $3 million to the state to fill a hole in the state budget, and Maricopa County (Phoenix) must provide $13 million to the state.
The Tucson City Council, after cutting expenses to the bone, just found out they are still $32 million short for the fiscal year ending June 30, because revenue from sales taxes, utility taxes, and fines and fees, are down even more than expected. K-12 school districts are cutting programs because of lack of funds – the state budget cut support for K-12 funding by $144 million.
The tax scene in Tucson, then, is not as pretty as the mountains and desert surrounding us. With regard to the economy, unemployment figures and the mortgage foreclosures are also a reflection of our nationwide problems. People are just as concerned here about seeing small businesses obtaining credit from the banks, jobs being created to get more people back to work, cooperation from the mortgage bankers in adjusting oppressive mortgages, and consumer credit reform.
Being away from home has not quelled our interest in the serious problems facing President Obama and Congress. The president's decision on how many troops to send to Afghanistan was to be announced on December 1, and I hope it will result in our troops coming home safely in a few years, with our safety from the threat of Al Qaeda secured.
As for the Senate vote on health care reform, the dispute over the anti-abortion provision is a real problem. The provision in the Senate bill introduced by the Democrats would permit coverage for abortions in health insurance, but would comply with the Hyde Amendment as passed in 1976, prohibiting the use of federal funds to pay for an abortion. This would be accomplished by segregating money paid by the insured for premiums or co-payments from any public subsidy and requiring that any payment for an abortion be paid for from private funds, not public money. However, this provision in the House bill was rejected by a coalition of Republicans and anti-abortion Democrats who voted for the Stupak amendment, which follows the provisions of the expanded Hyde amendment of 2008, and bars coverage for abortion in any plan which receives any public funds. Liberal Democrats in the House voted no on the Stupak amendment but nevertheless voted to adopt the House bill in order to achieve the greater good of achieving health care reform. In the Senate it will be up to the pro-choice forces and the anti-abortion forces to decide who will compromise, the liberals in voting for health care reform despite their opposition to the Stupak provision, or the anti-abortion forces in voting for health care reform despite their preference for the broader prohibitions of the 2008 Hyde amendment over the original Hyde amendment of 1776. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rejected the demands of the National Right to Life Committee, and some Catholic bishops, that they oppose a health care reform plan unless it flatly prohibited coverage for abortions. They chose the middle ground, supporting health care reform but demanding that it honor the Hyde Amendment restriction on use of federal funds for abortion. Let's hope that the pro-choice forces and the USCCB can advise Congress on some middle ground which will remove this obstacle to passage of a health care reform bill which both sides recognize is sorely needed for this country.
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