Congressional Republicans question state aid included in Obama stimulus package

Representative John Boehner (R-OH) said something curious on Meet the Press just now. He said that the Obama stimulus package focuses too much on giving money directly to states instead of helping people keep their jobs. What’s odd about this is that states can’t borrow money—they can’t run deficits like the federal government can, meaning that if there’s a shortfall, the states must cut services and jobs.

State governments and their contractors are huge employers. I don’t get why Boehner would argue against federal aid to the states in order to keep them solvent.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration will soon launch recovery.gov, a website dedicated to tracking expenditures from that aforementioned stimulus package. The website “shall provide data on relevant economic, financial, grant, and contract information in user-friendly visual presentations to enhance public awareness of the use funds made available in this Act,” and will also “provide a means for the public to give feedback on the performance of contracts awarded for purposes of carrying out this Act.”

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  • Jim Botuchis

    I think that congress needs to consider a form of payback for those people benefiting from mortgage and credit defaults in the form of future Social Security benefits. I find it ludicrous that people through their avarice can walk away from financial obligations and then be rewarded with government subsidy such as social security. Deduct the amount of financial default from accrued SS deposits and revise payment based on that total. This will make the SS program more solvent and hold people accountable for their actions. This should also apply to benefits passed along to unwed mothers who receive free college simply for being promiscuous.

  • Jim Botuchis

    I think that congress needs to consider a form of payback for those people benefiting from mortgage and credit defaults in the form of future Social Security benefits. I find it ludicrous that people through their avarice can walk away from financial obligations and then be rewarded with government subsidy such as social security. Deduct the amount of financial default from accrued SS deposits and revise payment based on that total. This will make the SS program more solvent and hold people accountable for their actions. This should also apply to benefits passed along to unwed mothers who receive free college simply for being promiscuous.