Blue-state blues: Gavin Newsom busted Calis budget on migrants and NY, NJ will soon follow

Last week California Gov.Gavin Newsom announced that his state is facing a $12 billion budget deficit.As has become the habit for every blue-state governor in trouble, he pinned the blame on President Donald Trump.But the real reason California is in a hole is its unprecedented levels of social-service spending, especially on illegal immigrants.Unless the state is willing to reform its budget-busting welfare programs, California, like its blue-state brethren New York and New Jersey, will face perpetual fiscal woes.Newsom claimed that “California is under assault” from Washington, and that a “Trump slump” from tariffs and other federal policies will cause its fiscal shortfall.Yet the budget document itself admits the state does “not forecast a traditional recession” — and that an anticipated decline in revenues accounts for less than half of the new deficit.The main issue, the budget makes clear, is California’s explosion in spending — especially for Medi-Cal, its health-care program for low-income individuals.In California, the medical plan supposedly reserved for the poor covers more than a third of the entire population, far more than in the rest of the country: Nationwide, similar Medicaid programs cover about 20% of all Americans.Part of the reason for its large number of recipients is that since 2016, California has been continuously expanding coverage for what it calls the “undocumented.” Beginning last year it made Medi-Cal available to all illegal immigrants.Medi-Cal’s coverage is generous: It includes dental, vision and mental-health services, as well as transportation to medical appointments and drug and alcohol rehab.Just two months ago, the Newsom administration had to borrow an extra $2.7 billion because more illegal immigrants were enrolling in the program than anticipated.As the new budget announcement euphemistically put it, increased Medi-Cal expenditures on “individuals with certain statuses” caused much of the budget s...