Disabled: The governors’ proposals for Medicaid, welfare remove the safety net for those who cannot care for themselves.

In the wake of moribund budget talks, congressional Republicans hope to advance entitlement legislation incorporating their version of the nation’s governors’ proposals for Medicaid and welfare. Indeed, Republican leaders seem willing to press ahead even over the objections of some of the Democratic governors who helped draft the governors’ conference plan.

It has become a hackneyed routine in budget circles to speak for future generations. Let me give voice to the concerns of just one child I know.

His name is Matthew and he is 8. Someone must speak for him because Matthew cannot speak a word. He is profoundly autistic, which means, among other things, that the communications spheres of his brain are always tuned to the channel with the gray static fuzz on the screen. Matthew will never experience the power of a spoken request or feel the joy of articulating a well-rounded sentence.

Matthew’s inability to communicate sometimes leads him to throw tantrums or become self-destructive. He has a heavy callus on his hand where he bites himself. He perseveres at disagreeable habits. Matthew will tear up any piece of paper he finds into as many little pieces as he possibly can.

Under current law, he is disabled. Under no stretch of the imagination can Matthew negotiate this world on his own. And that will never change.

I know that Matthew’s parents love him dearly and will try to ensure that he has, as much as humanly possible, a full and happy life. But when I look at what the Republican Congress and the governors seek to do to the social safety net, I worry. What will happen to my firstborn child and only son when I die? What kind of safety net will this society bequeath to him?

There are a lot of people like Matthew. And there are a lot of people who, even if they are not disabled, can under no stretch of the imagination ever succeed in this world on their own. And that will never change.

Some say that even without federal assistance, no governor would fail to care for the needs of profoundly disabled people like Matthew.

The truth is, states devote radically different levels of effort to the causes of even the most profoundly disabled. Why, for example, does North Dakota think that it takes $7.67 of every $1,000 of personal income in the state to care for its mentally retarded and developmentally disabled, while Alabama thinks that it can do the same job with $1.83?

The truth, is all states do not treat their needy with the same level of compassion. There was a reason why the federal government instituted nationwide entitlements. State after state would take the opportunity of the governors’ Medicaid and welfare proposals to slash their effort on the needy even further.

Any budget that adopts the governors’ Medicaid and welfare proposals would not be a responsible budget.

Responsibility is more than merely balancing the books. Love your neighbor as yourself is an almost universal article of faith in all creeds that we as humans avow.

If we truly loved our neighbors in need, we would not have found half of our mandatory savings in means-tested programs that benefit the very needy, and four-fifths of the rest in Medicare. We would not have exempted military spending and corporate welfare from their fair share of cuts. And we would not have sought to squander billions on tax breaks, half of which would have gone to those making more than $100,000 a year.

President Clinton was right to veto the Republican budget, for it was not a responsible budget. When I think of the human need to which it was so callous, I want to tear it into as many little pieces as I possibly can. My frustration with its priorities makes me want to bite my hand until it bleeds.

Hubert Humphrey said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life--the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” That is where we must go, for a responsible budget.