GOP governors press Congress to pass stimulus bill (including Palin)

[cali]

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer Beth Fouhy, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 10 mins ago

Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.

Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama's spending priorities.

The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, scheduled meetings in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state's share of the package.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist worked the phones last week with members of his state's congressional delegation, including House Republicans. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, the Republican vice chairman of the National Governors Association, planned to be in Washington on Monday to urge the Senate to approve the plan.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_go_pr_wh/stimulus_gop_governors

[shireen]

1. i guess it's different when they have to directly struggle with state budgets ....

Geez, it's not a perfect stimulus bill. Too many concessions were made to the thugs. But until someone invents a way to generate money out of thin air, it's the best we got.

[TwilightGardener]

2. "Press for her state's share of the package"--wait...I thought she was all

"Tinks, but no tinks, if we want a (insert pork here), we'll build it ourselves..."

[RinaX]

3. As a Floridian,

I must admit that Crist isn't sucking nearly as much as I thought he would on a number of issues.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Sarah originally was only going to ask for 500 million

or something, infrastructure for her precious pipeline and something about a rocket-launching pad in Southeast, but with things crumbling around here and oil prices being what they are, a lot of public pressure has been brought to bear to accept whatever they're willing to hand out. The Republicans here are really in a quandary because one of the reasons why they opposed Mark Begich is because he couldn't "bring home the bacon" like Ted Stevens could, so now they look kind of hypocritcal if they try to stop him (and Lisa) from getting Alaska a good share on the basis of some bogus "fiscal conservatism."

I like watching Republicans squirm.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Blue_In_AK/50

[janx]

6. Can you clue me in (again), roughly, on the state of AK's finances?

I seem to remember hearing some not-so-good news about it. :hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

7. We're doing okay, I think,

but certainly not rolling in dough like we were when the price of oil was so high. Of course, the Permanent Fund took a big hit, so we'll probably not get much of a dividend this year. Nobody is seriously talking about a state income tax or anything - at least not yet - so we can't be too bad off.

Personally, I think a state income tax would be a good thing. It makes you feel a little more invested in what the state government does, plus it would capture a little from the people who just come up here to work and then go back to wherever they came from with all the money. That happens a lot unfortunately.

I think I read that our unemployment rate is like 7.5 or something. Could be worse.

[janx]

9. Thanks. I've been reading ADN. n/t

[northernlights]

5. can't help but wonder what the freepers are thinking...

their idol and queen....begging for handouts from Obama? BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[janx]

10. ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2175899/posts?page=19


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2175704/posts


;-)

[Cha]

8. Rec'd~ Isn't this

an interesting development.