The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 8/1/8
While Gov. Haley Barbour fine tunes his surprise plan to avoid cuts in Medicaid – which he sprang at the Neshoba County Fair Thursday – perhaps lawmakers can find a way to avoid wasting any more of the taxpayers’ money in a stalemated special session.
Barbour told the Fair crowd that he expects to announce a new plan to make less severe Medicaid cuts by Monday when lawmakers he called to Jackson in special session were supposed to resume meeting.
Lawmakers have met off and on since May 21 without being able to come to agreement on a $90 million deficit – with Barbour threatening to cut the Division of Medicaid’s budget by millions, that could shut down some hospitals and nursing homes and lay off thousands of health care workers, if lawmakers didn’t pass the bill he favored.
