California Gets a Budget

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report, from http://voaspecialenglish.com The recession may be easing, but American states are still feeling the pain. Most of the fifty states began their budget year July first. Almost all states require balanced budgets. Already, some predict new deficits. Congress included state aid in the two-year stimulus plan approved in February. But states have had to find other ways to fill budget holes. The recession has hit especially hard in California, home of the world's eighth largest economy and one out of eight Americans. In August, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new budget to solve his state's deficit. The budget included around fifteen billion dollars in spending cuts. That was in addition to fifteen billion dollars in cuts passed in February. But spending cuts in the eighty-five billion dollar budget might still not be enough to solve long-term problems. The Republican governor angered some Democrats when he vetoed several additional spending items before he signed the budget. The money will be held as an emergency reserve. The governor himself compared the budget to the old Western movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Education faces the biggest reductions. Prisons and health care also face big cuts. Californias finances have become so bad, the state began to buy goods and services with promises to pay later. Now, California has a budget. The state can seek loans to pay its bills until more tax

Published 2009-09-15 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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