California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law that will spend $181 million on fire prevention in the state — and $2.8 billion on Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid provider, whose costs have ballooned thanks to his decision to cover illegal aliens.
The San Jose Mercury News reported on the bill, which Republicans opposed — despite the provision for fire prevention, including controlled burns — because of the massive spending on Medi-Cal:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Monday that allocates $180 million for wildfire prevention projects, such as prescribed burns and vegetation management, throughout the state.
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[T]he Assembly’s Republican members were staunchly opposed to a provision in the bill that sends an additional $2.8 billion from the state’s general fund to the California Department of Health Care Services, to cover cost increases associated with Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance provider for low-income and disabled people.
Part of those unexpected costs? More and more immigrants who entered the country without permission are enrolling in Medi-Cal, Newsom administration officials told CalMatters in March.
As Breitbart News has reported, California had to borrow more than $6 billion to cover shortfalls in Medi-Cal last month. State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) says that Medi-Call is effectively “insolvent” as the result of Newsom’s decision to extend free health care to illegal aliens, which took effect last January.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
