| Ben Philpott, who works for KUT and the Texas Tribune, has put together an excellent series on the state budget this week. I'm working on a series of posts unpacking what he's discussed, but something in today's report was too much: Arlene Wohlgemeuth was one of Tom Craddick and Rick Perry's top lieutenants in 2003, when Republicans slashed the state budget and set Texas' social services back almost a decade. It was her work that led, directly, to 230,000 kids losing their CHIP coverage. And now she's laughing about it. Wohlgemeuth laughed about her cuts in the interview w/ Philpott (transcribed below):
The budget just went through one hell of a scrub in 2003. "Well we call that low-hanging fruit. (Chuckles). I think most of the low-hanging fruit has been picked. (Chuckles). I think thy're going to have to get the ladder and get way up in the tree to find that efficiency, and, uh, but they're going to have to do it." Arlene Wohlgemeuth is Executive Director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative state policy think tank. She helped trim the budget in 2003 as Chair of the House Human Services Committee. Some people say she cut way too much back then. Others, she didn't cut enough. Wohlgemeuth says that session was simply about priorities. "Getting the services to the people who needed it the most. And, so, in those judgment calls, you have to say, 'OK, who really, really needs the services?', and make sure those services are delivered." Such prioritization led to elgibility changes to the state's children's health insurance program. Eye and dental services were cut, and more frequent checks were institututed to see if parents were making little enough money to qualify for CHIP. As a result, about 230,000 kids lost coverage, but the state was expected to save about $350 million over five years.
You can listen to the full audio here: Texas Tribune - The Ditch: The Axman Cometh. Arlene Wohlgemeuth is going to throw an event for Greg Abbott in about a month. Hey Abbott -- do you think cutting kids off of CHIP is funny? |
