As the Virginia Senate Finance Committee’s staff director, she’s
preparing for the impact of what’s known as the “fiscal cliff,” a $607
billion bundle of federal tax increases and automatic spending cuts that
could savage state budgets – and return the nation to recession – beginning in first days of 2013.
Unlike most states, Virginia has a $30 million emergency fund
set aside to soften the blow of this massive budget contraction, but
Daley and her colleagues in state government are still anxious.
They know a third of Virginia’s economy depends on federal spending. They know hundreds of thousands of Virginians’ jobs are in jeopardy in the next year alone. What they don’t know — and what no one knows — is whether Congress will act to avert this crisis.
“Are they going to kick the can down the road? Are these cuts going into place? It’s just fraught with uncertainly,” Daley said.
That uncertainty is being felt in state capitals nationwide, according to Jeff Hurley, a senior policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“States are closely linked to what the federal government does,” he said. “There’s a severe correlation between the two that gets left unnoticed.”
Read more: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/24/14651989-state-budgets-in-jeopardy-as-nation-nears-fiscal-cliff?lite
Unlike most states, Virginia has a $30 million emergency fund
set aside to soften the blow of this massive budget contraction, but
Daley and her colleagues in state government are still anxious.They know a third of Virginia’s economy depends on federal spending. They know hundreds of thousands of Virginians’ jobs are in jeopardy in the next year alone. What they don’t know — and what no one knows — is whether Congress will act to avert this crisis.
“Are they going to kick the can down the road? Are these cuts going into place? It’s just fraught with uncertainly,” Daley said.
That uncertainty is being felt in state capitals nationwide, according to Jeff Hurley, a senior policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“States are closely linked to what the federal government does,” he said. “There’s a severe correlation between the two that gets left unnoticed.”
Read more: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/24/14651989-state-budgets-in-jeopardy-as-nation-nears-fiscal-cliff?lite
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