LAT20170111

LATIMES.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY11, 2017 A

of those is the$16.1-billion
subsidy for Medi-Cal, the
program offering healthcare
to the state’s most needy,
provided through the Af-
fordable Care Act.
Those funds have helped
the state add more than3.
million peopleto the Medi-
Calsystem,anetworkofpro-
vidersthatreachesoneinev-
ery three Californians.
Republican leaders in
Congress and thepres ident-
elect have vowed to repeal
thelawchampionedbyPres-
ident Obama,though they
have yet to identify when or
how that will happen.
That uncertainty is why
Brown’s new budget plan
does not officially lay out a
path forward, though the
governor made it clear on
TuesdaythathethinksGOP
leaders shouldrethink their
political promises inregard
to Obamacare.
“That’s very bold and, I
think,a move that isn’tvery
consistent with decency,”
the governor saidTuesday.
Healso offerednational
leaders someadvice as they
weigh the merits of various
federal subsidies.
“I don’t think thiscoun-
try needs any more divisive
kinds of moves that divide
the poor and the rich, split
the middle class and all
those other things that will
be theresult if therhetorical
thrust, as suggested in the
last few weeks, becomes the
operationalreality in Wash-
ington,” Brown said.
But the governor offered
adash of hisown brand of
raw politicsTuesdayby ask-
ing legislatorsto approve an
exte nsionof California’s sys-
tem for buying andtra ding
greenhouse gas pollution
credits.

That cap-and-trade pro-

gram faces an uncertain fu-

ture beyond 2020 because

businessgroups have chal-

lenged its legality in court.

On Tuesday, Brown pro-

posed that the Legislature

officially reauthorize the

program— which would re-

quire a supermajority vote

in both houses — and

hinted that he mightother-

wiseblock the spending of

$2.2 billion in proceeds

from theauc tions of those

credits.

“Given the fact that the

federalgovernment isgoing

in theopposite direction,”

Brown said of the climate

change debate, “I would

think that Californianswant

to strengthen their own

commitment.”

Advocatesforsocialserv-

ices, though, saw the budget

plan as lacking any new

strength for the state’s most

needy.

“This isjust a very con-

servative budget thatreally

doesn’t do anything to re-

duce poverty in the state of

California,” said Mike Her-

ald of the Western Centeron

Law and Poverty, who

pointedtoalackofnewmon-

ey forwelfare assistance ef-

forts or affordable housing.

The governor’s budget

also offers less than ex-

pected forbackers of Pro-

position56, lastyear’s to-

bacco tax increase ear-

marked to boost healthcare

funding.

While Brown pegs the

tax’s infusion of new money

at $1.2 billion, it is offset by

overall sagging tax reve-

nues, and therefore is u n-

likely to boost the reim-

bursementrate s sought by

doctors who treat Medi-Cal

patients.

Democrats, in general,

sounded positive notes

about thegovernor’s pro-

posal.

Onekey source of early

criticism, though,was his

plan to phase out the schol-

arshipsofferedto middle-

class students attending

University of California and

California State University

campuses.

The budget proposesto

renew scholarships for

37,000 currentrecipients but

offers no new assistance be-

yond that.

Assembly Speaker An-

thony Rendon (D-Para-

mount) said the plan,cou-

pled with proposedtuition

increases,would be unfair.

“We mustwor k to keep

college affordable for Cali-

fornia students,” he said,

“and I will notsupport bur-

dening them with higher

fees and greater student

debt.”

In all, Brown’s budget

continues a long trend

toward allowing additional

spending whilerestraining

the political desires of

Democratsto do more.

And thoughthe budget

doesn’t spell outa specific

needto respondto changes

pushed by Trump andcon-

gressional Republicans that

are on the horizon, thegov-

ernor made clear that all

budget decisions in Sacra-

mento are in someway sub-

ject to the national debate.

“That’s whywe’re going

to have to hold onto our hat

here,” he said. “It’s going to

be a rough ride.”

john.myers

@latimes.com

Twitter: @johnmyers

Bracing for shifting fiscal climate

[Budget,fromA1]

TAX REVENUE GROWTHis declining, says Gov. Jerry Brown, who unveiled his

$179.5-billionfiscalplan. “To manage unreliability requires prudence.”

Gary CoronadoLos Angeles Times

State’s 2017-18 budget spending

Source: Gov.Jerry Brown's proposed 2017-18 budget

Los Angeles Times

California’stotalexpenditures,including selected bond funds:

(In billions of dollars)

Human

services

$19.

Total:

$179.

billion

Expenditures for the categories above are rounded up.

Health

$40.

Transportation

$11.

Corrections/

rehabilitation

$13.

K-

education

$52.

Higher

education

$

Other

$27.

Source:Gov. Jerry Brown'sproposed

2017-18budget

Los Angeles Times

California’s

budget deficit

worries are back

Numbers based on state budget

projections released each Januaryby

theCalifornia Department of Finance.

’11-

’

’13-

’

’15-

’

’17-

’

• 
  


• 
  


• 
  

0

2017-

(projected):

–$1.

(In billions of dollars)

$

ence.
When pressed on his op-
position to abortion and
same-sex marriage, forex-
ample,theconservativesen-
atortold Democratic col-
leagues that both issues had
been settled by the Supreme
Court andthat hewould
abide by those decisions.
Similarly, on the use ofwa-
terboarding againstterror-
ism suspects, which Ses-
sions has previously sup-
ported, he said Congress
had clearly outlawed the
practice.
Sessions began histesti-
mony by offering his most
steadfast denialyet of alle-
gations that asa U.S. attor-
ney in the1980s he had im-
properly targete dcivilrights
advocates for prosecution
on voter fraudcharges and
had made racially insensi-
tive comments about theKu
Klux Klan and minorities.
“These are damnably
false charges,” Sessions
said,adding that he “did not
harbor the race-based ani-
mositiesI am accused of. I
did not.”
Thoseaccusations, made
by fellow Justice Depart-
ment attorneysat the ti me,
helped torpedo Sessions’
1986 nomination by Presi-
dent Reaganto become a
federaljudge.
“There was an organized
effort to caricature me as
somethingthatwasn’ttrue,”
hesaid.“Itwasverypainful.I
didn’t know how to respond
anddidn’trespondverywell.
Ihopemytenureinthisbody
has shownyou that the cari-
cature thatwas createdof
me was not accurate. It
wasn’t accurate then and it’s
not accurate now.”
Sessions is again being
assailed by civil rights
groups, who point to his
Senate record of voting
against hate-crime legisla-
tion, immigration reform
and effortsto ban torture as
evidence that hewould not
fairly enforce laws protect-
ing minorities.
Sessions testified he
hopedto workcloselywith
localpolice and would ag-
gressively combat gun vi-
olence, gang crimes and
drug trafficking. He said he
felt criticism of police mis-
conduct should be “nar-
rowly focused on the right
basis” because too often
mistakes were used to

“smear wholedepartments”

andthat “placesthose offi-

cers atgreater risk.”

The senator did notstray

from his long-held hard-line

views on immigration en-

forcement, testifying he

would aggressively“prose-

cute those whorepeatedly

violate our borders” and

support rescinding an

Obama administration pro-

gram that deferred deporta-

tion of hundreds of thou-

sandsof so-called Dream-

ers, those broughtto the

country illegally aschildren.

“It isvery questionable

constitutionally,” Sessions

said of President Obama’s

2012 Deferred Action for

Childhood Arrivals pro-

gram, knownas DACA. He

did not say whether he be-

lieved the 742,000 immi-

grantsprotected underthe

program should be de-

ported.

An unabashed opponent

of marijuana use,Sessions

was noncommittal about

whetherhemightusehisau-

thority to resume raidsof

pot-growing operations and

dispensaries. Such law en-

forcement actions, deeply

unpopularinstateslikeCali-

fornia and Colorado,werein

effect halted inrecentyears.

Marijuana is now legal for

recreational use in both

thosestates,amongothers.

On counter-terrorism,

Sessions said hewould fight

the “scourge of radical Is-

lam” and believed thatthe

U.S. military prison at

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,

should continueto house

terrorism suspects. Obama

was unable to fulfill his

pledge to close the prison,

which still holds 55 detain-

ees, 19 of whom have been

cleared forrelease.

Sessions added that he

did not support “the idea

that Muslims asa religious

group should be denied ad-

mission to the United

States,”a position Trump

once backed.

The hearing is scheduled

to continueWednesday with

along list of witnesses, in-

cluding Democratic Sen.

Cory Booker, who said he

would take the unprece-

dented step of opposing a

fellow senator’s candidacy

for a Cabinetjob.

Sessionswas the first of

Trump’s Cabinetcontend-

ersto beginwhatisexpected

to be acombativeconfirma-

tion processover the next

few weeks.

Sessions,one of the most

conservative members of

Congress,iswidelyexpected

to win confirmationfrom his

colleagues in the Republi-

can-controlled Senate.No

sittingU.S. senator hasever

beenrejected for a Cabinet

position, andGOP senators

on the committee offered

nothing but unstinting sup-

port on Tuesday.

Even so, Sessions has a

longand complicated his-

tory on racial matters, and

the toughest questions

posed by senators focused

on how he would deal with

civil rights laws, hate crimes

and accessto the polls.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein,

the ranking Democrat on

the committee, set a tough

tone b y saying that since the

election, manycitizens have

expressed “deep anxiety

about the direction of this

country and whether this

nominee will enfo rce the law

fairly, evenly and without

personal bias.”

“Todaywe are not being

askedto evaluate him as a

senator,” the California sen-

ator said, acknowledging

that many of her Demo-

craticcolleagues like Ses-

sions personally and profes-

sionally. “Will he be inde-

pendent of the White

House?Will he tell the presi-

dent ‘no’ when necessary?”

Sen. Al Franken (D-

Minn.) grew testy when

questioning Sessionsabout

several civil rights lawsuits

Sessions had listed on his

Senate questionnaire as ex-

amples of “significant” cases

that Sessions personally liti-

gate d during his career.

The Trump transition

team later said that the

caseswere worthy of being

mentioned, even though

Sessions had not been ac-

tively involved in them.

Franken suggested that

theTrumpcampaignorSes-

sionswere tryingto inflate

his civil rights accomplish-

ments.

Sessionsrepliedthat he

had listed the cases because

theywere“historic”andthat

they“were the kind of cases

thatwerenational in scope,

and deserved to be listed on

the form.”

The would-be attorney

generalwaded into contro-

versial issues that have long

dogged the Justice Depart-

ment, including whether it

shouldreopen its investiga-

tion into Clinton’s use of a

private email server while

servingassecretaryofState.

TheFBIandJusticeDepart-

ment decided thatcriminal

charges werenot warranted

despite havi ng determined

that Clinton and her aides

unintentionally sent classi-

fied informationover the

system.

During the campaign,

Trump said hewould ap-

pointa special prosecutorto

investigate the matter but

has since backed off that

pledge.

Sessions, thefirst sen-

ator to endorse Trump’s

presidential bid, said he

would recu se himselffrom

any Clinton-related matters

because he had often at-

tacked heron the campaign

trail.

Sen. Lindsey Graham

(R-S.C.)asked whether Ses-

sions believed Russiawas

behind the hacks of the

Democratic National Com-

mittee and Clinton cam-

paign ChairmanJohn Pode-

sta. Emails hackedfrom the

DNC andPodesta’s email

account disrupted the Clin-

ton campaign, and the intel-

ligencecommunity and the

FBI have concluded that the

cyberattacks wereordered

by high-ranking Russian of-

ficials with thegoal of hurt-

ing Clinton and helping

Trump.

Sessions said he had not

been briefed on the investi-

gation but had“no reasonto

doubt” the findings. As at-

torney general, Sessions

would playa large role in

helping decide how to re-

spondto such an attack dur-

ing Trump’s tenure.

“Whenanationusestheir

improperlygained... infor-

mationto take policy posi-

tions that impact another

nation’s democracyor their

approach to any issue,then

that raises real serious mat-

ters,” Sessions said.

Trump, bycontrast, has

questionedthe intelligence

findings of Russian hacking,

calling the assertions an ef-

fort to delegitimize his elec-

tion.

Sessions sidestepped

questions about whether he

would recu se himselffrom

any investigations involving

Russia and the Trump cam-

paign, saying he had not

publiclycommentedon that

andwould review any such

caseto determine whether

“it should stay within theju-

risdiction of the attorney

general or not.”

[email protected]

Twitter: @delwilber

A collegial

first hearing

for Sessions

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS(R-Ala.) saidat his SenateJudiciary Committee hearing that asattorneygeneral

he would recuse himself from decisions related to Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information.

ChipSomodevillaGetty Images

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN(D-Calif.) set a tough

tone with some confrontational questions.

Alex BrandonAssociated Press

[Sessions,from A1]