Posted on 03/12/2009 9:11:48 AM PDT by MissouriConservative
Republican governors who opposed the economic stimulus package and suggested they would refuse some money are sparking tension within their states -- and, in one case, pitting Republicans against each other.
In South Carolina, Gov. Mark Sanford, a high-profile critic of the stimulus package, may become the first governor to reject a significant portion of the stimulus money. Meanwhile, the Mississippi Legislature moved last week to challenge Gov. Haley Barbour's decision to refuse some funds. A bill has also been introduced in the Alabama Legislature to challenge Gov. Bob Riley. And Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana -- another high-profile critic -- will announce Friday whether he will make good on his threats to reject some funds.
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Gov. Sanford's outspoken opposition to the stimulus package is what originally sparked U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, to add an amendment to the stimulus bill allowing state legislatures to accept the money even if their governors don't. From the beginning, the situation has pitted Gov. Sanford against members of his own party in the state, some of whom asked Rep. Clyburn for help.
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In response, Democrats and some Republicans advocate taking the money to deal with unemployment now and sorting out the consequences later. They also argue that if the stimulus works, unemployment will be lower two years from now, reducing state costs.
A change in eligibility would end up costing Mississippi $16 million annually once the stimulus money runs out, said Dan Turner, Gov. Barbour's press secretary. While the Legislature could repeal the change two years from now, "it would be very difficult to ratchet that program back politically," Mr. Turner said
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Isn’t taking money now and dealing with consequences later rather a stupid attitude to take? Isn’t that how we got in trouble in the first place?
Yes, but politicians tend not to think beyond the next election.
Mark Sanford ping!
FReeper Twitter ping
Obama and his leftist buddies knew that this would be happening, and they also knew that the ongoing attention towards Rush Limbaugh would result in the split among conservatives as to how to deal with that. These are really bad times for “everything non-leftist”, and this may seriously be the case for many years to come.
I’ve noticed that politicians these days are in constant campaign mode. With that mindset, they are always buying votes one way or another...how can they actually “govern” that way?
Of course we all know the answer to that one don’t we?
I have a feeling that this will end up in court. It seems a tad unconstitutional for the Federal government to give step in and circumvent state government procedures.
Supreme Court...here we come.
YEP...that’s why we need TERM LIMITS!!!! This system is broken.
They don't govern. They rule.
And they rule rather poorly at that.
Thought you might want to see this.
It seems all the governors have standing in such a case. The federal government has no authority to circumvent state’s executive power.
Conservatives seriously need more than just four “truly conservative” U.S. Supreme Court Justices, if they are going to prevail here. Justice Kennedy is part of the “squishy middle” that could go either way. I’m not convinced that the U.S. Supreme Court would definitely vote in the majority for what the “red state” Governors seriously want done on this.
Well, we’re not going to get more than four, so we’ll have to deal with the consequences. This is a fight that these governors should not back down from. If the Supreme Court rules against the Constitution, we’ll need to deal with the response to that when the time comes.
Remember, the U.S. Supreme Court already voted in the majority for, both, the permission of the government to take away people’s property, and for the very unconstitutional “campaign finance reform” system that we still have in place, as two examples.
I’m aware of their deviations from the Constitution. That is no reason to back down from a fight that must be fought. If they disregard the Constitution in their ruling, the matter can be dealt with as everyone sees fit at the time.
You want to defeat the Alinskyites? We need to create a crisis of our own and this is it.
[In response, Democrats and some Republicans advocate taking the money to deal with unemployment now and sorting out the consequences later. ]
Great plan, morons. Just kick the can down the road.
The master plan... now get the states to fight each other within the states. Get everyone crazy, chaotic, then hope they will view zer0 and the BIG US govt. as the savior. It’s all BS.
“Great plan, morons. Just kick the can down the road.”
Not only that but they can now force, after the money runs out, an unfunded mandate upon the states. Once an entitlement is increased, it is never decreased. Congress has just discovered, opened, and lost the lid to Pandora’s box.
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