Breaking ranks with their party's Senate leadership, a chorus of Republican governors can be heard in Washington pressing for passage of President Obama's economic stimulus legislation in the Senate. Sarah Palin of Alaska [yes, that Sarah Palin] is meeting over this weekend with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senators to explain how much her state needs these appropriations. Florida's Charlie Christ has been on the telephone with that state's Congressional delegation, and Jim Douglas of Vermont, who is also Republican Vice Chairman of the National Governor's Association, will be in D.C. Monday, February 2, to deliver that organization's call for Senators to pass the bill promptly.
Three Republican governors have hinted they may not accept the federal appropriations for their states due to "strings" attached to the money. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have opposed the legislation, but all three will be hard put to turn down the money once the bill passes and 47 other states start spending the cash and creating high paying construction trade jobs across their borders. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota put it best, saying "If we are going to go down this path, we are entitled to ask for our share of the money."
President Obama once again used his Saturday morning radio address to press for quick passage of the stimulus bill in the Senate, reminding the nation that this measure may not be the last one required to get the American economy back on sound footing. With white collar unemployment at 4.6% and blue collar unemployment at 11.3%, the working families who elected Obama are feeling the pinch all across the country. The Congressional Budget Office conservatively estimates that as the legislation is now formulated, $525.5 billion would be injected into the economy in the next two years, including the entire $153.3 billion for construction which the law requires to be spent or returned to federal coffers for redistribution within 24 months after the bill is signed into law.
CBO predicts the federal bureaucracy will become clogged up with cash and have trouble pushing so much out into the real world in just two years. Go figure! I predict the demonstrable organizational skills of the Obama team will be brought to bear on that problem, and the profit opportunity of $7.5 billion or more for the construction industry will be absorbed significantly more quickly than the not for profit CBO can presently comprehend.
Three Republican governors have hinted they may not accept the federal appropriations for their states due to "strings" attached to the money. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have opposed the legislation, but all three will be hard put to turn down the money once the bill passes and 47 other states start spending the cash and creating high paying construction trade jobs across their borders. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota put it best, saying "If we are going to go down this path, we are entitled to ask for our share of the money."
President Obama once again used his Saturday morning radio address to press for quick passage of the stimulus bill in the Senate, reminding the nation that this measure may not be the last one required to get the American economy back on sound footing. With white collar unemployment at 4.6% and blue collar unemployment at 11.3%, the working families who elected Obama are feeling the pinch all across the country. The Congressional Budget Office conservatively estimates that as the legislation is now formulated, $525.5 billion would be injected into the economy in the next two years, including the entire $153.3 billion for construction which the law requires to be spent or returned to federal coffers for redistribution within 24 months after the bill is signed into law.
CBO predicts the federal bureaucracy will become clogged up with cash and have trouble pushing so much out into the real world in just two years. Go figure! I predict the demonstrable organizational skills of the Obama team will be brought to bear on that problem, and the profit opportunity of $7.5 billion or more for the construction industry will be absorbed significantly more quickly than the not for profit CBO can presently comprehend.
