We need fed $$, stat!

THE CURRENT state of the Pennsylvania budget makes a few things clear.

Hundreds of teachers may not have jobs next fall. Some schools will have to go without counselors, librarians and teaching aides. Neighborhoods will lose police, firefighters, crossing guards and other public-safety officials.

Some children and the elderly won't get the services they need to survive. Families will lose child care, and many single parents will lose their jobs because of it. Streets won't be repaired, and crumbling structures will stay that way after the city employees assigned to remove them are laid off.

It's already happening in cities across the country. In Colorado Springs, Colo., city leaders decided, among other cutbacks, to extinguish 8,000 streetlights (every third one) to save money. The result? Crime is up and a 62-year-old man was shot to death outside a business on a darkened street.

We don't want cities in our state to be like Colorado Springs. Philadelphia can't afford to have more crime due to service cuts and growing unemployment. But that will happen unless Congress acts now.

Last year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included funding to help states like ours close gaping budget holes and cover critical Medicaid, education and public-service needs. Jobs were saved and created - and services protected - at a critical moment for our economy. But that aid is running out, and we still face huge shortfalls. If the emergency funding isn't extended, the scenario above will become a reality.

Currently, $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid matching funds - essential to ease our state budget shortfall and prevent huge job and service cuts - is being held up in Congress. Demand for Medicaid services has grown dramatically to handle the health-care needs of the uninsured.

Along with that funding, there's $902 million in additional education funding in the Education Jobs Fund and $251 million in aid for Philadelphia included in the Local Jobs for America Act. This money will save the jobs of workers and teachers while also creating economic activity that will help the city and state recover from this horrible recession.

We just can't afford any more job losses and cuts in services in Philadelphia or in Pennsylvania.

The delay in passing additional relief is potentially disastrous and support for extending the aid is widespread. In February, the New York Times said the federal matching funds for state Medicaid programs provided by the Recovery Act last fall have had an invaluable effect on states' ability to protect basic services and stave off further public- and private-sector job cuts. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warns that, if aid is not extended to states, as many as 300,000 teachers could be laid off in September.

On Feb. 21, 47 U.S. governors from both sides of the political aisle sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader Boehner, Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell requesting immediate passage of the Medicaid matching funds extension. Secretary Duncan spoke about the critical need for the non-Medicaid aid as well, saying that the funds would "remove pressure" from states that currently see pink slips as the only way to avoid falling into economic crisis. It's critical support that local economies can't do without.

WITHOUT further federal aid, states struggling to emerge from the economic downturn will have to close budget gaps with brutal cuts that could cost the economy 900,000 jobs in the near term and many more by 2012.

So with so many calling this assistance essential in maintaining services and further stabilizing the economy, why is legislation still sitting stalled in Washington?

With hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake and economic projections for state budgets dire, how much longer will Congress dally?

We need our leaders in Washington, including Sens. Specter and Casey, to prevent this looming economic catastrophe and help states like ours get back on track. We're waiting for them to do the right thing, but we can't wait much longer.

Cathy Scott is president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 47, which represents city workers.