Kasich Budget Increases GRF Spending by Another $7.5 Billion

In his budget announcement today Kasich said his budget only contains “anemic growth” when you exclude Medicaid and Education.

The governor has tried to pull this trick before.   The fact is, Health and Human Services spending and Education make up somewhere between 78 and 85 percent of total General Revenue Fund (GRF) spending (depending on whether you include federal dollars in the mix).    So if you want to get an accurate measure of how much spending is going up – you ABSOLUTELY need to include these values.

The following two charts show the actual GRF spending numbers.

The first is from an and the second is straight out of .

Here’s what the charts show:

GRF spending under Governor Strickland was $50.7 Billion.

John Kasich’s first budget increased GRF spending to $55.8 Billion.

Kasich’s new budget increases spending even more: to $63.2 Billion.

That’s an increase of $12.5 Billion dollars over the course of Kasich’s term as governor.

Matt Mayer, of the conservative think tank , told Plunderbund : “I guess we now know why Governor Kasich refuses to fund a tax cut by reducing spending. Congressman Kasich would have had a field day with this budget.”

I think the Governor needs to look up the meaning of the word “anemic”.