Georgia cuts could be averted as bill advances in Congress

Two weeks after Gov. Sonny Perdue announced a 4 percent state budget cut to make up for an expected shortfall in federal stimulus funding, Congress on Wednesday moved one step closer to passing $26 billion in emergency aid to states that could offset Georgia's budget blow.

If the U.S. House passes the legislation extending parts of last year's economic stimulus program as expected, an estimated $234 million in federal money could start flowing to Georgia within weeks.

That might mean averting cuts to state agencies that could have resulted in longer lines at the state motor vehicles department and less care for the state's parks, for instance.

Perdue on July 22 ordered state agencies -- except for k-12 schools -- to cut their budgets by another 4 percent in what the governor's office called a pre-emptive move to address an expected cut in federal funds for Medicaid, which provides health care to the poor.

Without the money, governors across the country warned they would have to cut thousands of jobs for teachers, firefighters and other public workers.

Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley on Wednesday said it was premature to discuss what impact the partial extension of the so-called Federal Medical Assistance Percentage funding would mean to offsetting the state cuts until the legislation is passed by Congress and signed by the president.

But "if [that] money comes through, we would be in a little better shape ... and it would potentially soften the blow for the 2012 budget," Brantley said.

The Senate is expected to approve the legislation on Thursday. On Wednesday, just hours after the Senate voted to move the legislation forward, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called representatives off their August break and back to Washington for an expected vote on the measure Tuesday.

The swiftness of Congress' action was surprising.

"They have moved much more quickly on this than we ever would have guessed," Brantley said.

The legislation, which would extend emergency federal funding included in last year's economic stimulus bill, is designed to help states shore up Medicaid, education and other programs.

It has wide Democratic support and is expected to pass the Democrat-controlled House.

"The House will act quickly to approve this legislation once the Senate votes," Pelosi said in a statement.

Even though Perdue exempted k-12 schools from the budget cuts, colleges weren't exempted. Rep. Hank Johnson of Lithonia said the House needs to pass the legislation to save badly needed jobs in schools and public agencies in Georgia and nationwide.

"It's important for us to consider this measure next week, which will save about 140,000 teaching jobs -- more than 4,000 in Georgia -- and tens of thousands of first responders’ jobs," said Johnson, a Democrat.

In the Senate on Wednesday, Democrats overcame widespread opposition from Republicans to move the legislation forward amid GOP concerns about what it would mean to taxes and the deficit.

"Originally we were borrowing the money for this, and then [Democrats] came up ... with a combination of tax increases and military cuts," to pay for it, Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, who voted Wednesday against advancing the bill, said in an interview after the vote. "That's not the way to go about dealing with this."