O'Malley's Swimming in Red Ink

Overshadowed by the deplorable state of the state budget released yesterday was the admission before the Senate Finance Committee by officials of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation that Maryland needs to borrow over $300 million from the federal government to replenish the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.

State officials said that the unemployment claim volume is unprecedented because of the elevated levels of joblessness throughtout the state since 2007 (the year Governor O'Malley took office). 

"At this stage, the trust fund is bankrupt," said Minority Leader Allan Kittleman (R-Howard, Carroll). "Moreover, Governor O'Malley's legislative proposals would make things worse - we must not permanently expand program costs under a federal mandate that only provides short-term revenues.  Obviously, that fix is not financially sustainable."

Business groups joined Republican legislators at the hearing in opposition to O'Malley's legislation.  For more information, see the article in today's The Daily Record (click here).