As the state Senate prepares to come up with its version of the state budget, Governor Nixon wants to add another $68 million to the pot.

The Health Care Compact is an interstate compact - which is really just "an agreement between two or more states that is consented to by Congress" - that would return the authority and the responsibility to regulate health care back to the member states.

A federal decision to stop paying for some mental health services for jail inmates will cost the state an additional $10.5 million next year, lawmakers learned Wednesday.

The President reaffirmed his view that decisions about education should be left to states and not the federal government. “I believe education is an issue that is best addressed at the state level,’’ the president said, “and governors are in the best position to have the biggest impact.’’

States that stand to suffer most from proposed defense cuts are mobilizing to mitigate economic harm, according to interviews with 10 governors.

Governors of both parties have taken steps to balance their budgets, but Republicans triggered some of the most high-profile battles.

Health care cooperatives that are being launched in eight states announced they will receive a total of $638 million in loans from the Obama administration under the federal health insurance law.

With increases in expenses and no federal money to fall back on, there will almost certainly be some spending cuts as well as spending increases in the budget presented Monday night in the governor's annual "state of the state" address.

Illinois' multibillion-dollar pile of unpaid bills will quadruple within five years unless steps are taken to curtail state pension and Medicaid spending, a government watchdog concluded Monday in a new analysis of the state's budget.

Gov. Bill Haslam proposed a $31 billion spending plan that would raise pay for state workers by 2.5 percent, fund a new science building at Middle Tennessee State University and cut more than 1,100 state jobs across Tennessee.

The Health Care Compact is an interstate compact - which is really just "an agreement between two or more states that is consented to by Congress" - that would return the authority and the responsibility to regulate health care back to the member states.

Fixing Maine's welfare system requires embracing a Wisconsin-style approach and keeping the system focused on promoting work and self-sufficiency. Maine's current welfare system does just the opposite, trapping people and families in poverty and promoting dependence and an overreliance on government.

South Carolina should refuse federal No Child Left Behind Funds and the accompanying mandates and find a way to fund poor school districts adequately.

In the wake of the failures of the famed "Super Committee," $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts go into effect in 2013, and those cuts will undoubtedly impact state budets.  Although multi-faceted, the problem is clear: states must learn to fend for themselves financially.

Replacing the current federal financing structure of Medicaid with fixed allotments to the states would help save both state and federal budgets. Without this policy change, states will dig further budgetary holes and the federal government will face an increased likelihood of a debt crisis.  If states received a non-fungible Medicaid block grant from the federal government rather than fungible matching funds, each state would have the incentive to reign in Medicaid spending.  If states were freed from the myriad federal mandates (such as the “maintenance of effort” clause of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) they would gain the ability to run Medicaid efficiently.