The South Carolina Senate has passed a budget about equal to the one passed by the House after earlier saying the House version was irresponsible.

This budget severely cuts education and health care in the state.

On Thursday to help cover the cuts in health care the Senate rejected a proposal pushed by Gov. Mark Sanford that would have increased taxes on cigarettes to 53 cents a pack to help pay for Medicaid and tied that to a reduction in the state income tax rate.

Two things to keep in mind.

The money raised by the cigarette tax, about $171 million, is money that would be matched several times over by the federal government bringing about $400 million more dollars to the program.

That's money that will be used to fund a number of key health programs in South Carolina and in the long run will help keep other costs down.

And keep in mind that Sanford's income tax reduction doesn't go into effect until our collections from that tax goes above the 2001 level which was the highest in state history.

So the reduction in income tax rates wouldn't happen until better economic times return.

Also under the budget funding per pupil will be at $1,643 which is the lowest level of funding since 1995. Thousands of teachers in South Carolina will lose their jobs if this rate stays in effect.

More than $326 million is needed to reach the $2,201 in per-student funding the state says is required.

And as usual in the debate Thursday there was plenty of finger pointing.

"This is the worst budget that the Senate has ever passed," said Senate Democratic Minority Leader John Land, of Manning said in an Associated Press story. "We have let all of the people of South Carolina down. ... We have let every segment of South Carolina government down."

"I don't know how you lead a bunch of obstructionists," Senate Republican Majority Leader Hugh Leatherman, of Florence, said in an Associated Press story. Leatherman said Democrats used "the sorriest strategy that could be developed" to stifle progress on the budget that amounted to political brinkmanship.

Leatherman said he hopes to try and offer an amendment one more time to try and get the cigarette tax passed and to tie it in with an income tax reduction plan.

Leatherman said he will propose that the income tax reduction plan not occur any sooner than the tax year ending Dec. 31, 2005.

That is a conservative move to make sure that the economy has recovered enough so that the reductions won't affect other programs.

So Tuesday the Senate has one more chance to save these key Medicaid programs.

Let's hope reason prevails.