NEWS ARTICLES | February 14, 2009
La. in line to receive billions from stimulus
By Ana Radelat | The News Star | Link to article
WASHINGTON — The massive new stimulus plan approved by the House on Friday could touch the life of nearly every Louisianian.
The $787 billion package offers tax breaks to individuals and businesses, increases spending on an array of government programs — from Medicaid to school lunches — and pours millions into construction of roads, bridges and military bases.
The Senate also approved the package late Friday night.
It would give Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration more than $714 million in "stabilization" funds, mostly to spend on education. But nearly $130 million of that money could be used for other purposes — including covering state budget shortfalls.
According to Federal Funds Information for States, a non-profit budget research group, the stimulus package contains about $1.7 billion to help Louisiana cover Medicaid patients. Demands on Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor, are increasing as the economy worsens.
The package also contains about $455 million to spend on roads and bridges in the state, $28 million for drinking water projects, $1 million for food programs for the elderly, $40 million for child care for low-income families and $16 million for Head Start, an early childhood education program for poor children.
To tap its share of money for highways and bridges, Louisiana must obligate at least half of the money within 120 days and the rest by Sept. 30, 2010. And, like most federal highway funding, Louisiana would be reimbursed for construction spending after the start of a project.
The state would also receive millions of dollars to boost other government programs. The spending portion of the bill would provide Louisiana with nearly $3.8 billion.
Because of the efforts of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans, the stimulus package also would create an arbitration board to settle disputes from local governments who had been denied reconstruction grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That is expected to free up to $1.4 million in FEMA money for Louisiana.
President Barack Obama has estimated the stimulus would save at least 3.4 million jobs.
But it was opposed by most Republicans, including Sen. David Vitter of Metairie, and Reps. Rodney Alexander of Quitman, Charles Boustany of Lafayette, John Fleming of Shreveport, Joseph Ca of New Orleans, Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge, and Steve Scalise of Jefferson. They said it would cost too much and would not create enough jobs.
"What this bloated stimulus needed was a fundamental change at its core," Vitter said. "We needed to strip this wasteful spending and focus on those provisions that would bring real job creation... instead, it is sadly more Washington business as usual."
Fleming said he "could not vote for a bill that will grow government, increase national debt with deficit spending and still won't grow jobs efficiently."
Alexander accused the Democratic leadership of rushing the more than 1,000-page bill through Congress.
"Their intention, it seems, was to jam this massive bill through Congress and onto the American taxpayers," he said.
Landrieu called the stimulus "good work, although anything could be made better."
She said Louisiana would benefit from much of the bill, including crop disaster assistance to farmers who suffered losses from last year's hurricanes.
She decried the partisan nature of the vote, saying she believes Obama and the Senate's Democratic leaders tried to reach out to the GOP.
"I hope Republicans will start to understand that it's more important to represent the people of their district than follow the party," Landrieu said.
The final stimulus package was negotiated between the Senate and the House this week. Negotiators trimmed billions from the House version by slashing spending and reducing tax cuts
Obama's signature "Making Work Pay" tax cut was reduced 20 percent, to $400 annually for individuals and $800 for couples.
The stimulus plan also offers other tax cuts. It would provide a one-time payment of $250 to retirees and individuals receiving disability payments from the Social Security Administration.
The bill also temporarily increases the earned income tax credit for working families for three or more children and provides new tax credits on tuition payments and first-time home purchases. Small businesses would benefit from a series of new tax breaks, including one that would allow them to write off 2008 losses against profits from earlier years and another that would allow an extension of depreciation on the purchase of major equipment.
