State government’s most expensive agency is going to get a close look from the state senate.
The department of social services consumes about one third of the state’s $23-billion budget this year. State and federal money is combined to produce $8 billion dollars for a large number of programs in the department.
St., Joseph Senator Rob Schaaf has been appointed chairman of the special committee to find savings in the departments programs or find alternative ways to pay for them..
He hopes his committee can find ways to control the ever-expanding Medicaid program. The committee hopes to have some preliminary ideas by March first, the last day for bills to be filed this year. But Schaaf thinks the real results of the committee’s work will come later.