Other Republican governors, such as Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, raised concerns about the “stimulus” bill just as Gov. Palin did, and announced their intention not to take all the money alloted to their states; and when the time came, they followed through on their promise not to take all the money, though they did take most of it. Gov. Palin, on the other hand, told the feds, “Sorry, but we only need about half of that.”Seriously.
Protesting federal “strings,” attached to stimulus funding, Gov. Sarah Palin said she doesn’t want nearly half the estimated $930 million Alaska is eligible for.”Will we chart our own course, or will Washington (D.C.) engineer it for us?” Palin said.She expected to file an appropriations bill this afternoon accepting about $251.5 million in stimulus funds, coupled with allocations of $262.6 million already requested for transportation and aviation projects for a total state take of about $514.1 million. . . .
The Anchorage Daily News had this quote from the governor explaining her reasoning:
We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government. We are not requesting more money for normal day to day operations of government as part of this economic stimulus package. In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government.
The written statement released by the governor’s office contains a pretty pointed critique of the “stimulus” bill and the reasoning behind it.
Governor Sarah Palin submitted her federal economic stimulus appropriation bill to legislators today to provide jobs and needed infrastructure improvements in Alaska under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Governor Palin is accepting just 55 percent of the available stimulus funds, all for capital projects. This amount includes the funds the state accepted last month for Department of Transportation projects.”We will request federal stimulus funds for capital projects that will create new jobs and expand the economy,” Governor Palin said. “We won’t be bound by federal strings in exchange for dollars, nor will we dig ourselves a deeper hole in two years when these federal funds are gone. For instance, in order to accept what look like attractive energy funds, our local communities would be required to adopt uniform building codes. Government would then be required to police those codes. These types of funds are not sensible for Alaska.”The legislation does not include funding requests for government operating programs. . . .”The law requires me to certify that the requests I forward for legislative approval will meet the requirements of the ARRA to create jobs and promote economic growth,” Governor Palin said. “Legitimately, I can only certify capital projects that are job-ready. Alaska has seen unprecedented increases in the level of state funding for education because that is our priority. I don’t want to automatically increase federal funding for education program growth, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, at a time when Alaska can’t afford to sustain that increase.””Simply expanding state government under this federal stimulus package creates an unrealistic expectation that the state will continue these programs when the federal funds are no longer available,” said Governor Palin. “Our nation is already over $11 trillion in debt; we can’t keep digging this hole.” . . .”Our desire is to foster a discussion about what is true stimulus and what is just more federal interference in Alaskans’ lives through the growth of government,” Governor Palin said. “We think stimulus items devoted to government agency growth and program expansion ought to be examined in light of the funding needs already being addressed with our pending budget requests.” . . .”We need to ensure that these stimulus dollars are used for job opportunities for Alaskans, while preserving the regular operating spending decisions through the normal budget process,” Governor Palin said.
Here’s video of her press conference:
For those who may have forgotten, since it’s been a while: that’s what conservative government looks like.Update: OK, there was another 14% of the money, allotted for Medicaid funding, which the state had already accepted; Gov. Palin’s actually only proposing to reject 31% of the “stimulus” money. The point holds.