STATE OF ALABAMA

Office of the Governor


BOB RILEY
Governor
 

Press Office
 

December 01, 2008

Governor Riley to Meet with President-elect Obama, Other Governors to Discuss Economy

MONTGOMERY - Governor Bob Riley and a bipartisan group of governors from across the nation will meet on Tuesday in Philadelphia with President-elect Barack Obama to discuss the economic conditions facing the country and ways to stimulate the economy.

One topic the governors will discuss with the President-elect is Medicaid, Governor Riley said. The topic is especially important to Alabama because of a recent change in the way the federal government defines hospitals’ costs. That change would result in cuts in the federal reimbursements that Alabama hospitals receive for treating the state’s poorest citizens.

“I believe fiscal discipline and tax relief are the best ways to speed the recovery, and that’s a message I and many governors will bring to this meeting,” said Governor Riley. “But we also need to discuss Medicaid. The states have to balance their budgets, and that becomes more difficult when Washington makes decisions on Medicaid that exacerbate an already tough problem.”

Governor Riley also said that spending cuts in the federal budget should be used to help pay for new spending on infrastructure, which the President-elect has indicated will be part of a new stimulus plan.

“If new government spending was the key to preventing recessions, then we’d never have a recession,” Governor Riley said. “States are taking action to reduce or cut spending and the federal government should follow our lead on this. I’m encouraged that President-elect Obama last week said it was ‘imperative’ to cut non-essential spending from the federal budget.”