California Furloughs Criticized

From the San Jose Mercury News:

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently began sending state workers home on unpaid leave one day a month, he said the state needed to tighten its belt to save the cash-strapped state money. But in one instance, the furloughs are actually costing California millions of dollars. ...

Sending those employees home one day a month means the state will forgo about $10 million — or 5 percent of the agency's $210 million annual budget — from Washington, without saving state government any money. Meanwhile, it's taking the agency longer to process claims, delaying disability benefits at a time when such requests are soaring.

"There really is no reason to do this, it's a no-brainer," said Pete Spencer, the regional commissioner for the U.S. Social Security Administration, which oversees the disability claims program. "If the governor is saying he wants to take all the money the federal government is offering, this is one area he's not doing it." ...

"There's an equity issue there," said John Wagner, the Schwarzenegger administration's director for the California Department of Social Services.

The issue has caught the attention of California's congressional delegation. Twenty-three Democratic House members wrote the governor in February and complained that furloughing the disability agency employees makes no sense.

Why is it that only Democratic House members wrote about this?