Gov. Strickland, Hold that Axe!

And you, too, President Hodge. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has provided a useful state-by-state breakdown of some of the elements in the stimulus package proposed by the House Democrats designed to help states, education and low-income households. Here is what they estimate Ohio would get from certain provisions, over two years, with the national total in parenthesis:

• Temporary increase in Federal share of Medicaid: $2.8bn ($82.5bn)
• State education block grants: $1.4bn ($38.8bn)
• Block grants for other state services: $0.9bn ($24.8bn, [+$15bn unallocated])
• Other education spending: $1.7bn ($41bn)
• Training and employment services: $0.2bn ($2.7bn, [+$1.3bn unallocated], over 1yr)

Those pieces alone add up to about $7bn for Ohio, and that is not including some of the other major elements, such as infrastructure spending and tax cuts. So it looks like the help from Washington could go a long way towards closing the state budget gap, which is projected to be $7.3bn for the 2010-11 fiscal year.