In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the Republicans argue that the Democrats’ plans to expand Medicaid, a program funded jointly by state and federal governments, would squeeze the state’s already strapped budget and threaten other vital programs.

Georgia has estimated that the cost of the House and Senate passed unfunded mandates, for just new enrollees, would cost a staggering $2.64 billion under the House version (not including the Stimulus extension or a Primary Care Reimbursement increase) and anywhere from $1.54 billion to $1.79 billion under the Senate version.

This raises many concerns since Georgia currently cannot afford the cost of expanding Medicaid under the House and Senate bills. Due to the crippled economy, Georgia is facing significant budget problems and has been forced to make cuts to current services including K-12 education, public assistance, corrections, transportation and others.

Signing the letter were Georgia GOP Reps. Tom Price, Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston, Nathan Deal, Lynn Westmoreland, John Linder and Paul Broun.

They have a point. Democratic leaders have proposed a Medicaid expansion precisely because it’s one of the cheapest ways to extend coverage for the uninsured, who tend to be lower-income folks. But Medicaid also suffers periodic funding problems because, as a safety net program, enrollment tends to jump during economic crises when states are least able to afford the additional costs — a fundamental funding flaw that neither the House nor the Senate bill addresses. Indeed, this was exactly the concern that led Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to insist that the federal government pick up the entire tab for the Medicaid expansion proposed in the Senate bill.

Recognizing that problem, Democrats included roughly $80 billion in federal Medicaid help in last year’s economic stimulus bill — a treatment of the symptoms, but not the root of the problem. If lawmakers want to avoid having to pass emergency Medicaid spending every time the economy turns south, they’d do well to tackle the underlying flaw in how the program is funded. The only other option, as the Georgia Republicans point out, is for states to slash other things.

From their statement:

We share Ms. Bachmann’s concerns about ACORN’s involvement in the 2010 Census and will continue pressuring the Bureau to follow their own guidelines for partnering organizations and dump ACORN. However, we can not emphasize enough how important it is for every individual to fill out their census forms.

Every elected representative in this country should feel a responsibility to encourage full participation in the census. To do otherwise is to advocate for a smaller share of federal funding for our constituents. Boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country.

The unfortunate irony is that Ms. Bachmann’s boycott only increases the likelihood that ACORN-recruited census takers will be dispatched to her constituents’ homes. Anyone who completes and returns their census form will remove any need for a census taker to visit their residence.

Furthermore, a boycott opens the door for partisans to statistically adjust census results. The partisan manipulation of census data would irreparably transform the census from being the baseline of our entire statistical system into a tool used to wield political power in Washington.

You don’t usually hear Republicans criticizing a fellow member in such a public and official capacity.

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