California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is seeking eight billion U.S. dollars from the federal government to avoid massive cuts in social services, it was reported on Wednesday.
Facing a budget deficit of more than 20 billion dollars, Schwarzenegger is expected to call for deep reductions in already suffering local mass transit programs, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The governor also plans to renew his push to expand oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast, the paper said, quoting state officials and
lobbyists familiar with the plan.
If Washington does not provide roughly eight billion dollars in new aid for the state, the governor threatens to severely cut back -- if not
eliminate -- CalWORKS, the state's main welfare program; the In-Home Health Care Services program for the disabled and elderly poor, and two tax breaks for large corporations recently approved by the Legislature, said the paper.
Schwarzenegger also will propose extending a cut in the state payroll that is scheduled to expire this summer. That cut has translated into
200,000 state workers being furloughed three days a month, the equivalent of a 14-percent pay cut. Lawmakers would have the option of extending the
furloughs, imposing layoffs or some combination of the two. The governor is scheduled to unveil his plan early next month.
The governor and lawmakers have already had to close shortfalls this year totaling 60 billion dollars, as tax revenues plummeted at rates not
seen in California since the Great Depression.
Amid the continuing budget crisis, the state ran short of cash needed to cover its bills and was forced to issue IOUs over the summer.