state budgets

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne today joins the ranks of those predicting that, a year from now, the health care debate will be a distant memory, lost in the raging political scuffle over who’s to blame for rampant unemployment.
While official Washington and much of the media focus on the great health-care struggle, the administration’s economic [...]

The states’ collective budget shortfall is estimated to be $30 billion and rising. Required by law to balance their books, states are cutting social services even as demand is rising. Can Congress come to the rescue?