Max Baucus: “I, too, am pleased we are going to be voting to increase aid to the States. Earlier this year, I offered legislation to…”

“I, too, am pleased we are going to be voting to increase aid to the States. Earlier this year, I offered legislation to cut taxes, but its centerpiece was aid to the States. In fact, I suggested $75 billion in aid to the States. That sounds like a pretty large sum, but I suggested in the introduced legislation to provide up to $75 billion because, in my judgment--and I think it is the judgment of most economists--dollars that are spent to help States to balance their budgets will significantly help the economies in those States. Unfunded mandates by the U.S. Federal Government has caused some of the problems the States are facing. No Child Left Behind has been mentioned, and there are others, such as IDEA and special education. There are various unfunded mandates. We in the Congress have said that the States must provide these services, but the President and the Congress have not provided the money to the States so they can provide these services. So the States have had to figure out how to pay for these services because that is Federal law, they must do so. In the meantime, as we all know, States have suffered dramatic reductions in revenues because the economy has been down.”