Dianne Feinstein to Arnold Schwarzenegger: Go Pound Sand

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein isn’t buying Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s claim in his State of the State speech that the federal government is short-changing California.

The senior senator from California issued what used to be called a “sharply worded” statement to that effect, documented by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Marisa Lagos in a January 6 posting at Capitol Insider.

Among Feinstein’s mots of the not-so bon variety:

“It sounds like the governor is looking for someone else to blame for California’s budget. California’s budget crisis was created in Sacramento, not Washington. These problems are not going away until there is wholesale reform of the state’s budget process.”

In response to Schwarzenegger’s claim that proposed federal health care legislation will add billions in costs to the state’s already strapped Medi-Cal program, comes this bridge-builder:

“California is facing a $20 billion deficit now, whether or not national healthcare reform is passed. The governor’s comparison of the most populous state in the nation to a small rural state is a red herring. The Nebraska provision he mentioned wouldn’t take effect until 2017 and would do nothing to help with California’s current budget problems.”

Getting up a head of steam:

“I am open to working with state leaders to find ways to help California in these tough times, but pointing fingers is not constructive.”

Finally:

“Senator Boxer and I fought for — and achieved — a $165 million a year addition to the bill to save California’s public hospitals. We also got three years of full federal funding for the Medicaid expansion, a significant improvement over previous versions of the bill. I will continue to work as hard as I can for the best possible bill for California.”

Doing the math:

California’s population is about 39 million. Dividing the $165 million among the state’s residents would be $4.23 for every man, woman and child in the Golden State. God bless you, senator, keep up the good work.

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