GOP after pyrrhic victory?

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has promised to veto the state’s general fund spending bill, partly because legislative Republicans have chosen to reject federal funding for social service programs as a matter of fiscal principal.

The governor gets the best of this political showdown. No matter what you think of the federal deficit, it is a losing proposition for Montana to reject money that is currently available when to do so puts our citizens in harm’s way.

The rejection of about $100 million in federal funding for social service programs, including home heating assistance, food stamps, family planning and personal care assistants for the disabled also needlessly paints the GOP as being cold and uncaring.

It’s highly doubtful the lawmakers who want to refuse the funds will feel any impact; their principled stand comes at the expense of others in need, at a time when unemployment has reached unprecedented levels, particularly in Northwest Montana.

What makes their stance even more unappealing is the fact that the money has already been appropriated, meaning it may well be absorbed by other states rather than going toward deficit reduction. Montana congressman Denny Rehberg has proposed federal legislation that would ensure that funds rejected by states would go toward reducing the national debt, but until something like that is in place, Montana should accept what funds it is scheduled to receive in order to help its citizens.

The federal debt situation is indeed grave, so bad that it needs to be addressed in a serious, wholesale manner at the federal level, not by well-intentioned state legislators. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., chairman of the House Budget Committee, this week unveiled a plan to reduce the debt by over $6 trillion over the next 10 years.

That’s the kind of number that Washington needs to be working with to make a meaningful change in the trajectory of the national debt. When that happens, Montana likely will be getting considerably less in the way of federal funds, and the state will have to do its part to adjust to that reality.

But then, at least, other states will share the burden.