Kentucky Flunks Moral Test of Government

The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped. --- Hubert H. Humphrey

Moral, schmoral - you want an easy way to fill a budget gap, use the hides of people too old, weak and sick to object.

With tears in his eyes, James Cheely paused before a House budget subcommittee on Wednesday as he tried to explain his most important job title.

“I’m the father of a 21-year-old son, Bryan, that has a developmental disability,” he said.

Cheely, a coordinator with the Special Olympics of Kentucky and a member of an association for the mentally handicapped in Barren County, was among dozens who asked legislators during a budget hearing Wednesday to spare the mentally ill, mentally handicapped, elderly and chronically ill from budget cuts.

Later on Wednesday, the 874 Coalition — named for the estimated 874,000 people with disabilities in Kentucky — held a rally to repeat that message to lawmakers.

The rally came as House leaders are poised to unveil in coming days a two-year state budget that deals with a projected $1.5 billion shortfall in the General Fund. That plan does not include any major cuts to social services, said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.

However, the plan does remove about $220 million in General Fund dollars from the state’s Medicaid program in hopes that Congress will approve more federal funds for the program by January 2011. If that doesn’t happen, Gov. Steve Beshear told those at the 874 rally that the state could lose $600 million in matching money from the federal government for Medicaid.

So when Kentucky's own Mitch McConnell stops Congress from approving more federal funds for Medicaid to replace what the General Assembly took away from our most vulnerable citizens, it'll be the fault of ... Democrats.

Funny how that works.