Budget Proposal Uses Medicaid Money for SC Schools

Gov. Mark Sanford's allies in the Senate are rolling out a budget proposal that uses more than $400 million in Medicaid cash to pay for school programs in South Carolina.

By: associated press | WSPA-TV
Published: April 15, 2009

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Gov. Mark Sanford's allies in the Senate are rolling out a budget proposal that uses more than $400 million in Medicaid cash to pay for school programs in South Carolina.

Sen. Larry Grooms of Bonneau said Wednesday he was reviewing the proposal developed by Sanford's former chief of staff Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort and Sen. Greg Ryberg of Aiken.

Grooms says the proposal leaves a little more than $100 million of $578 million in federal Medicaid stimulus money with the Department of Health and Human Services. The rest would be used to
restore budget cuts to public schools.

The proposal also calls for using about $200 million to cover federal loans now supporting the state's unemployment payments.

Sanford has refused to request $350 million in federal stimulus cash unless it is used to repay debt.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)