Opinion: Cut the budget with compassion

Gov. Jeb Bush may be saying all the right things about the need to spare the poor from harsh budget cuts. But words are a cheap commodity in Florida's worst economy in a decade. Bush should be prepared to use his political muscle, along with his bully pulpit, to ensure that vulnerable seniors and families come out of the upcoming special session -- and future sessions -- with their public safety net intact.

Though acknowledging that "everything is on the table," Bush has recently urged lawmakers to put social services, along with education, at the bottom of the cut list and to exempt programs already trimmed to the bone. "I think we need to be sensitive to people who are already receiving services, particularly vulnerable people that have very few other options," Bush told reporters.

The governor is right, of course, but his sentiment may prove worthless unless he can persuade House Speaker Tom Feeney, whose apparent preference is for across-the-board budget cuts. Indiscriminate rollbacks may be politically tempting, but Feeney and his colleagues were elected to make reasoned choices, not to take the easy way out.

The across-the-board cuts House leaders are considering would hurt programs that serve Floridians most in need. Nowhere is that more true than in the health programs run by Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration. A 5-percent reduction in ACHA's budget would cut prescription-drug coverage for 30,000 of the state's poorest seniors (those living on less than $13,500 a year), and for another 38,000 working-poor adults whose meager income has been eroded by hefty drug and hospital bills. The drug-assistance program is no stranger to the chopping block, having been scaled back by more than 50 percent in favor of tax cuts and other Republican priorities before it even began.

"These are needed benefits," Bob Sharpe, ACHA's deputy secretary for Medicaid, told the Times. "Without them, it is quite possible that seniors or medically needy adults could end up without care, and medical conditions could deteriorate. We don't want to see these cuts made, but we've achieved all economies we can elsewhere in our budget. The only thing left is to cut into services like these."

Florida's budget situation is grim, and it will get worse before it gets better. But instead of slashing health coverage and other essential services for the poor under an across-the-board formula, lawmakers should make discerning choices among agencies and programs based on how much further pain they can bear.

It is not enough for Feeney -- or Bush -- to profess concern for the needs of vulnerable seniors and families. Ultimately, they will be judged by the actions they take, not the words they utter, to keep the already-thinning safety net from breaking altogether.

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