Created: 12/24/2009 11:27:57 AM 
Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Governor Sanford sent Representative James Clyburn and the S.C. Congressional Delegation a letter regarding this morning's health care legislation vote in Washington, D.C.
In his letter, the Governor expressed on-going concerns over proposed health care legislation and urged the Congressional delegation to remain vigilant in watching-out for South Carolinians' best interests.
He also added that the proposed legislation would force S.C. legislators to either raise taxes or make significant cuts in education, law enforcement, and economic development. The governor closed by recomending the legislation be "scrapped altogether" or undergo major revisions and urged Representative Clyburn, as well as, the entire U.S. Congress to either change the bill significantly or offer a more equal distribution of proposed benefits to all states.
The letter reads as follows:
Dear Jim,
I am reluctant to write again since it is Christmas Eve, but given the historic nature of what is taking place in Washington, the degree to which I am hearing from South Carolinians on this and its implications for our state budget and the family budgets of future South Carolinians, I am compelled to write.
It is in fact in the spirit of the Christmas Season that I write you and the entire Congressional delegation in hopes that South Carolina is not left out in the cold with the health care legislation voted upon by the United States Senate this morning.
I have already made clear our administration's concerns over what we believe to be a trillion dollar government takeover of nearly one-fifth of the nation's economy, and we still firmly believe the legislation is fundamentally flawed and will prove to be a mistake both financially and medically.
But in this case, two wrongs don't make a right. Forcing an enormous (and what we again respectfully believe to be misguided) government health care plan on South Carolinians is wrong, but also then forcing South Carolinians to pay the cost of future Medicaid expansion while other states are getting their tabs covered by the federal government seems doubly wrong. I've always lived under the rule that if you order from the menu, you should be ready to pay for your portion of the meal - and as such, the sweetheart deal-making by Senators from Nebraska, Nevada and elsewhere seems to perversely reward those who initially opposed the legislation, while punishing taxpayers in states represented by those like yourself who, in all fairness, have advocated for government health care since the beginning.
That said, as work now begins to meld the House and Senate bills we think it would amount to Congressional malpractice for this generous benefit not to be extended to every state in the nation, including South Carolina. Given your role as Majority Whip and your unique place of power in the Congressional hierarchy, we'd ask, for the sake of our state's budget and our taxpayers' wallets, that you exert that power in conference committee negotiations in the coming weeks and ensure our state is treated the same as Nebraska and others. Specifically, it appears Nebraska and others have been promised federal aid to cover future Medicaid expansion. South Carolina has not been promised these same benefits, even though - as you've said in recent days - our state has challenging unemployment, an eroding state budget and wide swaths of poverty, as well as a large Medicaid population.
As you know, the U.S. House health care bill alone expands South Carolina Medicaid rolls by 543,000 people, which would cost South Carolina taxpayers more than $1 billion annually in the next decade and eat up nearly 40 percent of the state budget in just five years. Furthermore, what's often lost in the discussion is the fact that this billion dollar burden will exacerbate an already brutal state budget situation.
In just the last year and a half, our state budget has been cut roughly 23 percent, and we face the potential of even more cuts to the budget as federal stimulus funds run dry. State experts project as much as a $561 million drop in revenue for the next fiscal year, a $1.34 billion in FY2012, and $1.44 billion in FY2013. So the possibility, and some would say probability, is that there may be a billion fewer dollars coming in to state government in several years, combined with the reality that this health care legislation will eventually cost an additional billion dollars or more per year.
Common sense, and a calculator, say these numbers just don't add up. It would force our state legislators to either cut significantly in the areas of education, law enforcement and economic development, or raise taxes. I hope you'd agree with me that the taxpayers of this state deserve neither option.
To close, I'd just reiterate our well-chronicled position that this health care legislation, barring wholesale changes, should be scrapped altogether. If not, we'd urge you and your South Carolina colleagues, as well as the entire U.S. Congress, to recognize the very real issues of fairness and financial sustainability and move to either markedly change the bill or offer the same benefits to taxpayers in every state. I cannot underscore enough how significant what happens here will impact our state budget and taxpayer - and how much I am hearing from constituents on this issue.
Thank you for your time, and again I'd wish you and yours a most joyous Christmas Season.
Sincerely,
Mark Sanford
