Dazed and Confused: Kaine's plea for stimulus aid package overused

With the economic current of the times, it's not surprising that Virginia is struggling to present a comprehensible, balanced budget. In some ways it makes sense that they would want to wait for government aid. Yet every state is suffering from the same money maignancy, and every American industry (including the porn industry!) is lining up for government handouts. It is irresponsible and inexcusable of Gov. Kaine to do the same. His complete and total reliance on money that is only imaginary for the moment could prove devastating to an already tenuous budgetary crisis. Even before Kaine spoke of his expectations for a "significant sum" of money from Obama's stimulus package, Virginia's budget was experiencing severe setbacks. State legislators from both parties were concerned with Kaine's proposed budget, remarking that he had failed to graps the dire economic consequences of the financial crisis. They complained that even if they adopted all of his proposed cuts, the budget would still be unbalanced by a 1 billion dollar margin. As a result, the state had no choice but to begin to eliminate thousands of jobs, slash agency spending by 15 percent and to "trim" almost 1 billion dollars from K-12 education and Medicaid. Many were outraged over the cuts from these latter organizations, which need more, not less, monetary support.
Even with these cuts, Kaine is still struggling to find ways to balance the budget, including a proposed and subsequently killed plan to restore the 30 cent cigarette tax. The danger now lies in Kaine's expectation of stimulus money that may or may not arrive. There are simply too many uncontrollable variables in the situation. What if the money promised is not enough to cover the budgetary lapses? What is the Virginia stimulus aid package decision is delayed or arrives later than expected? What if there is no Virginia stimulus aid package?
The House Majority Leader, Del. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, was disgruntled with the Senate's decision to wait until Wednesday before adopting a new version of the budget. In a Richmond Times-Dispatch article, he said that, "They didn't want to do their job." Griffith also commented that it may be May or June when they receive all the details from the stimulus package. The Senate views itself as stalling only or a few days to achieve accurate numbers. However, we can't afford to stall right now - the budget needs to be completed, with or without government aid.