Senator McConnell continues pushing spending caps during economic decline

August 10, 2009 by senatormcconnell

A real-life experiment in limiting government is under way in South Carolina.

The recession has downsized state government in a major way with agencies spending nearly $1.5 billion less than they did a year ago. Government is operating more efficiently by just about everyone’s standards, but it has shed a lot more than bureaucracies.

Free cough and cold medicine for children with poor parents got axed.

Residents who are bit by rabid animals now will have to pay for their own shots.

Mentally ill patients have been pushed out of hospital beds.

Eighty-six AIDS and HIV patients no longer will have financial help to buy their expensive, life-sustaining drug cocktails.

One hundred and twenty-five fewer troopers are stopping speeders and drunken drivers on the highways.

The questions is, what will policy makers decide the state can continue to live without once the economic situation turns around?
House Speaker Bobby Harrell, a Charleston Republican, said that in a shortfall, the state is left with two choices: cut spending or raise taxes.

“I think we have to live within our means,” he said. “People in this state are taxed enough. We don’t need to increase the burden, so we need to prioritize with the money that’s available.”

Harrell said a slowdown like this every few years is not necessarily a bad thing because it causes government agencies to look inward to become more efficient. No doubt some cuts are painful, but legislators are put in office to make the tough choices, he said.

Rep. David Mack, a North Charleston Democrat, said many people have a misunderstanding about what government is. It’s not an outside entity imposed on people’s lives. It’s about doing collectively that which people cannot do for themselves, he said.

“When people talk about cutting, there is a price to pay,” Mack said. The price goes beyond care and compassion to include economic viability by providing a healthy and well-educated population, he said.

House Minority Leader Harry Ott, a St. Matthews Democrat, said not all the downsizing has been bad, but at this point government is not tending to all the things it should.

The Legislature should be more active in making targeted cuts, Ott said. Until the session resumes in January, any budget cuts will be made equally to all agencies unless Harrell and Senate leader Glenn McConnell reconvene the Legislature.

“I think we have a responsibility to decide: Does government have a responsibility to provide a residential bed for a mentally ill patient or do we let that person walk the street as a homeless person?” Ott said.

McConnell, a Charleston Republican, said budget cuts have to reach a certain level before he and Harrell have the authority to reconvene the Legislature. Otherwise, the priorities can be refocused in next year’s budget.

McConnell has an idea to put spending limits in the constitution. The state budget growth would be tied to a 10-year average and any extra revenue in a given year could be used for tax cuts or one-time projects, or put in a savings account for the next downturn.

“I think we have an historic opportunity,” McConnell said.

The Post and Courier
Yvonne Wenger

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