Don't Harm Children in Minnesota Budget

Having spent a good deal of my career as a staffer at the Capitol, I have a pretty good idea of the difficult choices frequently forced on legislators.  They have to make tradeoffs among competing interests—often based on limited information—in a contentious political environment closely watched by the media. In the current fiscal environment where the Governor has closed off many options, their choices are often between the “lesser of two evils.” The debate about finding a way to continue to care for people on General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) is unfortunately a good example of bad choices.

The solution that was struck by legislators, advocates and others to save the program took money from several sources, including a county block grant used to help pay for children’s mental health and protective services. This funding source—Children and Community Services Act (CCSA)—had already been cut in the Governor’s earlier unallotments. Under the compromise, another $29 million would have been cut. As the bill made its rapid path through the committees, the amount was scaled back.

I don’t know what the right amount—if any—was to take from this funding source to save GAMC. But I am pretty sure that taking money from one vulnerable group to help another vulnerable group is a Ponzi-like scheme certain to collapse in the end. If we keep cutting back on our investments in children—especially those children most likely to end up on costly programs like GAMC as adults because they did not get help early on—we are setting ourselves up for even greater expense in the future. Those costs will come not just in the form of taxpayers’ dollars, but also in human lives and lost potential.

We need to help our policymakers think about state priorities from a long-term, big-picture perspective.  Many want to do so, but need the visible support of their constituents to help them take often-difficult stands.

As a legislative staffer, I saw the difference a constituent can make. It is true that just a few contacts from voters in a legislator’s district can make a big difference in his or her actions. Not always, but often.

I am happy to be back at CDF-MN and working with other staff and CDF-MN supporters to “step forward for children.”

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