GOP Govs Get Dose Of Stimulus Reality

Politico: Republicans Who Initially Threatened To Decline Federal Funds Have Backed Down Amid Home-State Criticism

(The Politico)  This story was written by Ben Smith.

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The list of governors threatening to decline federal stimulus money last month read like a list of Republicans considering running for president in 2012: Governors Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin led the anti-stimulus charge.

But what began with a bang is ending with something closer to a whimper. All three of those governors have been forced to scale back their expectations, to varying degree, as the push of conservative philosophy gave way to the pull of political reality.

All three found that praise from the conservative movement in Washington meant nothing to furious state legislators of both parties. And in the end, along with other conservative Republican governors, the three submitted letters in recent days asking to be eligible for federal funds, a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed.

“We’ve tried to compromise in a variety of different ways and now we’ve gotten to … a position well past the halfway mark,” Sanford told POLITICO in an interview, conceding that, “I got beaten up pretty bad on it.”

Sanford is still working to convince his state Legislature to find cuts to cancel out the new federal spending. Still, he has been attacked on his state’s top editorial pages, by activists occupying a tent city outside his mansion, and by the Republican chairman of the state Senate finance committee, who released a “chaos budget” designed to show the downside of Sanford’s plans. He responded to critics with a television ad Thursday, arguing that he was sparing his state's children from future debt.

Jindal, meanwhile, toned down his firm opposition and turned his focus to a much narrower rejection of two pots of money; Palin, too, has narrowed her objections and promised to work with legislators who want the money.

“At this point it looks like everybody’s on board with the program,” said Tom Gavin, an OMB spokesman.

The governors’ shifts from a national ideological offensive against Obama to a defensive damage control approach at home reveals the degree to which Republicans are still struggling to find a coherent path of opposition to the president, and the extent to which governors’ mansions - often seen as ideal steppingstones to the White House - can derail political careers in tough economic times.

And Democrats have relished the intra-party GOP warfare.

"What we saw was Gov. Sanford playing chicken and he got run over,” said Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. “And we've seen, to varying degrees, others reaping blowback from local communities as well. But that's a natural result of taking a position based on politics instead of doing what's right.”

Republican governors faced with the popular federal spending legislation, formally known as the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, staked positions on a political continuum, with national conservative support at one end, and local approval at the other.

Some, like Govs. Charlie Crist of Florida and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, kept their approach local. They campaigned for the legislation with the president, and accepted the money enthusiastically. Schwarzenegger’s Austrian birth bars him, in any case, from national office.

And Crist was less concerned about angering the conservative movement than about his standing in Florida, where he’s considering a Senate bid.

Other governors sought a middle ground. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota opposed the stimulus but accepted the funding on the grounds that “Minnesota is a net donor to the federal government,” making the payments only fair.

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas also noted in his certification letter that his state is a net contributor to Washington.

Perry - along with Palin, Sanford, Jindal and Govs. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Bob Riley of Alabama mdash; said he’d reject one portion of the stimulus: Unemployment insurance funding that would have covered laid-off part-time workers. In states whose unemployment programs don’t currently cover those workers, the shift would have required changes to state law, and governors say they worried that when stimulus funds run out, the expanded unemployment insurance responsibilities will constitute a new tax on state businesses.

But the prospect of even partial rejection of the federal funds has sparked several statehouse uprisings. Lawmakers, including Republicans in Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas, moved to make end runs around their governors and accept the money.

Jindal - who became the party’s most prominent voice against the stimulus in his rebuttal to Obama’s State of the Union address last month - appears to be rejecting just one other pot of federal cash on top of the $98 million in unemployment insurance: $9.5 million in health spending. 

The local press noted, meanwhile, that he plans to request federal funds for a New Orleans-to-Baton Rouge passenger rail service from the same pot of railroad money he denounced as a vehicle for “wasteful spending.”

A Jindal spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for details about his stance, but he wrote in his certification letter that he would spend the money “in a way that does not add an undue burden to the current financial situation in our state.”

Palin’s reversal was even more abrupt. She opened the battle March 19 by saying her state would “not request” some 31 percent of federal funds. Facing an uproar from legislators, her lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, assured the media the next day that Palin wasn’t “rejecting” the money, just seeking a public debate on spending. And Palin herself then weighed in, saying the money was still “on the table.”

Palin has since pledged to work out differences with her Legislature, and her spokeswoman would only forward a copy of her March 31 certification letter.

“It is possible that there will be areas where the state will choose not to apply for funds,” she said, noting that legislators were hearing public testimony and adding that she would apply for it on a “case by case” basis.

The concessions in Louisiana and Alabama leave South Carolina’s Sanford as the only governor resisting large elements of the stimulus beyond unemployment insurance. Sanford plans to refuse $700 million from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, on the grounds, he said, that it would expand government and impede reform.

“Once you’ve got the money, there’s no need to make the reforms,” he said of changes he’s seeking to the state education system.

The state’s attorney general has said legislators can’t accept the money without the governor’s cooperation, leading to a charged standoff in Columbia that’s left Sanford bloodied but, he says, undeterred.

“Over time we’ll be vindicated, but it’s been tough,” he said.

[kansas1946]

But what began with a bang is ending with something closer to a whimper. All three of those governors have been forced to scale back their expectations, to varying degree, as the push of conservative philosophy gave way to the pull of political reality.
************************************

Poor Republicans. They just can't win. They have no plan, no direction, no leader, no nothin', except Rush Limbaugh, and 80pct of Americans can't stand him!

[TheMasses01]

I got hit on by sexually repressed right-winger housewives.
Posted by mcthreeteeth
-----------------
Those are really guys in drag.
Hope you had a good time......

[WelcomeSocialismwitha45]

WelcomeSocialismwitha45
Good ideas,

Add...
1. Healthcare Reform,
2. Social Security Reform
3. Fair and Balanced Trade Policies
4. Sensable Banking and Investment Regulations
...and you got a deal.

Remember, If the middle class does not recover from this mess,
No one will
------------------------------------
DEAL - I make 50k a year , family of four. I am for the Middle Class. However, Obama is not. He is for destroying the Middle Class and creating a class that depends on Goverment. He is for following Europes Lead. I like America the way it is. Sure we have problems and they need to be fixed by not by putting us in debt 10 trillion dollars.

[ianlou]

WelcomeSocialismwitha45
Good ideas,

Add...
1. Healthcare Reform,
2. Social Security Reform
3. Fair and Balanced Trade Policies
4. Sensable Banking and Investment Regulations
...and you got a deal.

Remember, If the middle class does not recover from this mess,
No one will

[WelcomeSocialismwitha45]

I say that Obama and his cabinet are ruining our great country with over spending and overstepping their political boundaries. In the first two months of his administration he has put into motion bills that will spend trillions of American tax dollars. Yes trillions. To me that is unacceptable. He took responsibility for the country and he is not treating it well. In a down economy spending is the LAST thing you want to do. We need a few things from Obama.

1. Tax cuts for the middle class (actually do it don't just talk about it)
2. Decrease in government spending (trillions of $$?! Seriously?)
3. Let the economy play out on its own, no more bailouts or government help or intervention. If its going to fail let it fail and fix itself.

I think all of this spending is killing the economy. Why would we spend more money when no one has any? It makes no sense to me. I agree something has to be done but don't spend, please no more spending.

We need Obama out. New ideas in. (ones that make sense)

[ianlou]

Damn, I just went to a Tea Bag Party and someone tried to sell me Tupperware and Amway.

[ianlou]

I would crack up if the U.S. mail held all letters that had traces of "an unidentified substance" causing the late delivery, thus a late charge, of thousands of GoPer Tax Returns.

[ianlou]

So, the GoPers are protesting with Tea bags Ah?
I bet they bought stock in the Lipton Tea Co. before hand.

[WelcomeSocialismwitha45]

TIME to IMPEACH THE RADICAL LEFTIST. I swear on my children that Obama is a Radical Leftist who will destroy this country. Its Time to TEA PARTY. SEND A TEA BAG IN YOUR TAX BILL. What ever your beleifs are , dont bury head. If your interested in going the way of CUBA, than by all means, call me names. But lift your head out of the sand and look around. thats it.

[blitzder]

Bobby Jindal is the best leader for the Republican Party, now that the party is in the gutter. He personifies the moral bankruptcy of the Republicans. Kool aid is all they have to offer.

Cheney meanwhile, is stewing in his own garbage, after all. he was the one who slyly led the party while G.W.Nero fiddled, and the country was zapping the economy into the ground.

The Republican Party is in the trashcan of history, they will never recover from this, not for another 30 years.

[speakinup]

Hey UAW - how's that newpresident workin out for ya ?

Glad you voted Democrat now ?

[speakinup]

Biden is lying again. Or, is it that he hasn't stopped yet.

Yup - Biden sure did tell ole Dubya off didn't he !

And to think this freak of nature is second in command, and Pelosi is third.


Ah, but I forget Barry is already there with his no pork statements, that wasn't a bow, no lobbiest in my administration, "change" & "hope", no thieves in my administration and bi-partisan approach.

HA! What a ship of fools.

[sjc_1]

They found themselves on the wrong side of the issues. A lot of it may have to do with Medicaid being offered to people on unemployment so that they have some kind of health care. They saw this as expansion of government and the people saw it as common sense.

[skyk-2009]

How LOW this party has shunk and there seems to be no end in sight. Nixon is getting his revenge I guess. He was the IDIOT who came up with the idea of playing to the South and it's backward ways... LOL Now they are in complete control of the party. I think it is so funny,... the Party of Lincoln is now the party of the Confederacy! Lincoln must be rolling in his grave, especially knowing how he felt about Conservatives. But then these people aren't Conservatives, they are slimy snake oil salesmen who will sell their own people out for power.

[quapawsix]

Governments don't win and influence friends they create adversaries and start wars.

[johndevinejr]

If I were poor and uninsured, I would much rather be a citizen of Cuba.
Posted by mcthreeteeth at 8:11 AM : Apr 11, 2009

this is a very proud American!
Posted by tyrany1 at 10:07 AM : Apr 11, 2009

This comparison to a third world country's health care system is called HYPERBOLE.

Look it up!

[johndevinejr]

What has happened under Obama is we've returned to the way international diplomacy is suppose to work by working with our allies and talking to our ememies. It worked for 200 hundred years and that's what enabled us to win the cold war. The sort of strategy you support has lost us not only the respect of the world, but had backed us into a corner with few friends and even more enemies. It didn't work! Now you think we should do more of the same. I think that's one of the definitons of insanity. I'm not saying you are insane, but you are definetly misguided. Do yourself a favor and expand your horizons. If you did, you might actually realize eveything you are being told isn't true.
Posted by hakori at 7:26 AM : Apr 11, 2009

An excellent post.

However, I am sure you are aware that republicans are not at all interested in a well reasoned argument. The have belief and have no interest whatsoever in the truth or in facts. If they need facts they will create them as necessary.

But I believe that we should continue to try to lead the argument with thought and reason. If even one person recognizes how very damaging the conservative philosophy has been it will be worth it.

[debinok1]

If you have an expensive, life-threatening illness in the U.S. and are uninsured, hospice care is about all you're going to get. Please, keep showing your ignorance. It's so entertaining.
Posted by mcthreeteeth

In some states you wont even get Hospice. There are still states that charge for it. So no insurance, no Hospice.

[ianlou]

This is Too Funny!!!

The GO-Pers in their infinite wisdom have put themselves smack in the middle of a No-Win Situation in which they are left looking like that stereo-typical Fat-Cat Politician who loudly denounces the money they are stuffing into their pockets.

Now that's Entertainment!!!!

[tyrany1]

If I were poor and uninsured, I would much rather be a citizen of Cuba.
Posted by mcthreeteeth at 8:11 AM : Apr 11, 2009

this is a very proud American!