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Wed.: Catching Up
posted at 2009-02-25 23:59 | Last modified 2009-02-26 00:22
Sorry no post yesterday – between Obama’s speech last night and an early morning today, there just wasn’t enough time to blog.
I thought the Prez's speech was solid and good, though I wasn’t as in love with it as a lot of the pundits apparently were. But I have to agree with the widespread panning of Jindal’s response. I know he’s a smart guy, so I’m at a loss to understand why it was such a trainwreck. It just was. And somewhere, Sarah Palin is smiling.
Back to the numbers
I know start-of-session budget briefings are a big help to lawmakers, especially in a year like this, but after six hours straight of “cutting this” and “stimulus that,” I was ready to chew my arm off to escape.
Today’s nadir was Joint Finance, where IEI’s Roland Stephen presented legislators with a $91B tab for infrastructure needs. Dr. Barry Boardman followed up with more bad news from Fiscal Research, and Stimulus Czar Dempsey Benton capped it by disabusing lawmakers of any notion they’ll have much say over how the recovery money is spent. (I suspect many may have been secretly relieved – it’s bound to make for a shorter session.)
Benton says more than half of the stimulus money is headed for the next biennial budget. Other portions will go straight to agencies or consumers. When it’s all said and done, his office will apportion $2B, give or take, mostly according to formulas that are already in place at the DOT and DENR. This may or may not be a comfort to Republicans who worry that the stimulus hand-outs will be politicized. In any case, Benton says a new website launching Friday will let the public track how and where the money gets spent.
But a lot of the money can’t move yet because DC hasn’t settled the details. Most federal agencies are still working on their rules for how the money can be spent. US DOT already promulgated theirs, which is why road projects are already being doled out, but the actual deadline for spending guidelines isn’t till mid-April. Benton doesn’t intend to jump the gun.
If we step out in a direction that is not in accordance with those rules, we then put ourselves at risk of not complying with their requirements. When you do that with the feds, sometimes you have to give the money back. And we don't want to do that.
Reaction to the stimulus briefing was mixed. House Democrats were generally pretty upbeat. Approps co-chair Doug Yongue says the extra Medicaid funding will be “a big help.” But Senate Finance co-chair David Hoyle openly questioned how many jobs the spending will create. He’s also worried about the price tag for the package’s tax cuts – nearly $600M, unless the state decides not to follow the feds’ lead. Not that Hoyle isn’t appreciative, of course, but
We've got a three plus billion dollar deficit in our budget. This will close half of it, probably. We've still got a billion and a half, a billion seven down that we've gotta figure out how to handle. We've got some real challenges. This is not the end-all, do-all in my opinion.
You can hear an excerpt of Hoyle’s Q&A here.
Listen Now!
Easley’s new Vista(s)TM
Former Governor Mike Easley announced today he's taken a job with the Gates Foundation to expand and publicize his Learn and Earn program. More on that here.
Mike Easley Jr.’s on the move, too. He’s interning at the Wake County DA’s office – a gig Dome says might indicate he’ll follow his father into the prosecutor’s office. More here.
Overheard
“Well, work the dumba** out of her, will ya?” -- an unidentified House member complaining to a colleague before session Tuesday about an unnamed staffer who forgot to turn off her cell phone in committee. Stay classy, guys, and remember: Your desk mikes are hot, even before the gavel drops.
Comments? Drop me a line.
