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What does the California legislature want to do with it's $2.4 billion federal bailout? It wants to waste it on NEW spending programs, of course. Jill Stewart reports from Sacramento:

NOT LONG AGO the Assembly Appropriations Committee, facing California's $38.2 billion budget deficit, shelved one proposed spending bill after another, spending being a pointless topic. I watched as committee chairman Darrell Steinberg noted the only good news was that President Bush was sending Sacramento $2.4 billion in relief. Hearing news of the inbound $2.4 billion, a member of the committee declared, "Well, maybe now we'll be able to fund some of these programs we are talking about!" .. One man remarked how easily fat cats burn our money. But to my consternation, many in the hearing room were nodding, agreeing the $2.4 billion should be quickly spent.

More:

Gov. Gray Davis and the majority Democrats are asking taxpayers to cough up $8.3 billion in new taxes -- including $4 billion in tripled auto license fees, making California's taxes the highest by far .. Democrats have clung to huge spending programs and made only the barest in real cuts -- $3 billion or so from a $78 billion budget. Up nearly $20 billion from 1998, California spends almost twice per capita what Arizona spends to deliver state services.