STOP gutting the Stimulus Bill: Let state legislatures decide each state's participation

[Kip Humphrey]

Since there is such disagreement on what's needed to stimulate the economy, let each state decide.

Break the stimulus bill into 8 homogeneous packages:

1. TAXES
2. INFRASTRUCTURE (repairing roads, bridges, broadband, power grid)
3. EDUCATION (school construction, Head Start expansion, teacher pay support, etc.)
4. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (NIH, NASA, science & technology R&D grants, etc.)
5. ENERGY (alternative energy grants, energy efficiency improvements, capital project loan guarantees, etc.)
6. HOUSING (mortgage relief, homeowner insulation program, etc.)
7. HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES (unemployment, Medicare, Medicaid benefits expansion)

8. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (hybrid fleet, parks improvement construction, sod the Mall, etc.)

Package #8 is appropriated & passed solely by the Congress.

For the other 7 packages:

A. Provide each state with a per capita share limit of the $800 billion based on the total number of IRS tax filings by state for the 2008 tax year. 2007 federal tax filing totals by state will be used initially by states to perform their legislative deliberations. The 2008 data will be used for final full dispersement once those numbers have been calculated and published by the IRS (early in 2009).

B. Require each state legislature to hold 20 days of public hearings, public comment and public debate followed by legislature up/down votes on state participation in each package, followed by votes specifying the percentage of each state's allocation to be appropriated for each state's approved packages. States are required to deliver their vote results & participation percentages to the Congress within 45 days from the date of the Stimulus Bill passage.

EXAMPLES (hypothetical):
Alabama votes to allocate:
100% for the Tax package

California votes to allocate:
30% for the Education package
30% to Health & Human Services package
20% to Housing package
20% for Infrastructure package

Texas votes to allocate:
30% for the Energy package
20% for the Science & Technology package
10% for the Health & Human Services package
10% for the Infrastructure package
30% for the Tax package

Pennsylvania votes to allocate:
20% for the Health & Human Services package
30% for the Infrastructure package
15% for the Housing package
15% for the Education package
10% for the Tax package
10% for the Science & Technology

etc.


EXPENDITURE PROVISIONS:
1. The final apportionment of the Stimulus Bill among the 7 packages shall be determined by the results of the states' deliberations.

2. Dispersement of spending, services & tax cuts shall be commensurate with each state's allocation percentage and package participation.


Comments?

[sandnsea]

1. That's pretty much what they did

The State Stabilization fund was to go straight to the states. It got cut.

Susan Collins and Ben Nelson decided that almost all of that science spending was pork. Then they added in some of the damned dumbest tax cuts for buying a car or a house when people are losing jobs and credit ratings.

Here's what they cut, along with the state stabilization money.

http://www.obama-mamas.com/stimulus-senate.htm

Here's what was in the House version before they hacked it up.
http://www.obama-mamas.com/stimulus-house.htm

[BlueIdaho]

2. I say

If your elected congressional representatives vote against the bill - your state looses its share of the monies.

[NorCalDem]

3. ^This.

seriously. Think the R's would vote against it then?

[JFN1]

4. You should know better

than to propose something that makes sense. In D.C., it is a different reality, where personal considerations and politics trump good sense, and good sense, intelligence, and true patriotism, are regarded as antiquated, meaningless morals that take good money and law making away from where it is now centered: profit first, profit only.