Press of Atlantic City
June 21, 2010

An agreement on New Jersey's next budget is slowly taking shape, as Republicans and Democrats haggle to avoid a government shutdown on July 1. And the budget that will emerge from the Legislature is expected to look very much like the $29.3 billion, bad-news budget Gov. Chris Christie presented in March.

That's not surprising. The money simply isn't there. The state is facing an $11 billion budget deficit that has only worsened since March.

Still, there are some programs that lawmakers are trying to restore by finding money elsewhere in the budget. And they should - particularly those that have a big impact on vulnerable populations and comparatively small savings. Among those:

- Restoring a $7.4 million cut for family planning.

This short-sighted cut would eliminate all of the state funding for family-planning services. According to Planned Parenthood, the cuts would require a Cumberland County clinic to close and force severe cutbacks at Atlantic City's facility.

Christie may have been playing to social conservatives by cutting family planning, but if so, the cut was misguided. Few of the health clinics these cuts would affect provide abortions, and no state funds are used for abortions at the three clinics that do. What the cuts will do is affect the ability of low-income women to get access to health care services that include everything from blood-pressure screening to routine gynecological exams. Those kinds of preventative services avoid much higher Medicaid costs in the future. Democrats say restoring this cut is a priority. It should be.

- Restoring at least some of the 74 percent cut in state aid to libraries, amounting to about $10 million.

At a time when state residents are using library services more and more - particularly for free Internet access and job searches - the cuts could curtail these services just when they are needed most.

A bill introduced recently by Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Middlesex, would require Internet providers to provide free Internet service to at least one public library in each municipality in their coverage area when their contracts come up for renewal. That seems like a good approach in the future, but it doesn't help the problem now. At least some of the money should be restored this year.

There are other unwise cuts that are also being targeted for possible restoration, including $10.5 million for home-health care and $3.5 million to save the State Commission of Investigation. Here's another the Legislature ought to consider: restoring at least part of the cuts in the Earned Income Tax Credit, which helps struggling working families with children survive in one of the highest cost-of-living states in the nation.

The budget is expected to be wrapped up before the July 1 deadline because - in a rare and possibly unprecedented move - the minority Republican Party has agreed to sponsor the appropriations bill in exchange for a minimal number of Democratic votes. Democrats will then be able to distance themselves and blame Republicans for pain caused by the bare-bones budget.

Some political analysts say it's a smart move, others say it's the kind of political calculation that turns people off.

We say: Who cares? There will be plenty of blame and political rhetoric to go around come election season. The most important thing right now is to get this budget done, avoid a shutdown and try to restore some programs that cost relatively little but have a big impact on the poor and vulnerable.