House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, has sent a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee urging against any further cuts to Health & Welfare programs, especially Medicaid. The letter, dated yesterday, came after the JFAC co-chairs went letters to the Health & Welfare committees in both houses saying there was a need to find another $35 million to $50 million in cuts. "I believe further cuts of that degree ... are unwise and will prevent the department from fulfilling its statutory mission," Rusche wrote, saying they would "decimate" the state's health care providers, "add significantly to the rolls of the unemployed," shifts costs to counties and hurt the disabled and vulnerable. Rusche, a physician, wrote, "This is neither clinically sound nor financially prudent." You can read his full letter here.