Last week, Congress passed and President Obama signed a $26 billion stimulus package to fund state-level Medicaid programs and reduce teacher and other non-federal public employee layoffs.
Here’s what Gov. Lingle had to say about the bill:
“While the Democrats in Congress contend this latest federal bailout will not increase the national deficit, it also does nothing to reverse it or to reduce the level of government spending in Washington or at the state-level…”
Actually, it’s not just “the Democrats in Congress” who contend that. The $26 billion will be covered by closing foreign tax loopholes and making cuts to the federal food stamp program; it’s in the text of the bill. Lingle must know that, because she goes on to say…
“What’s even more troubling is in order to pay for this latest $26 billion bailout of states, the Democrat-controlled Congress cut almost $12 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), at a time when a record number of Americans–including almost 141,300 Hawaii residents–depend on this assistance
to subsidize their food purchases.”
So Lingle’s opposed to federal assistance, except when she’s for it. Oh, also: cuts to the food stamp program were inserted as a concession to Republicans. And it (sort of) worked: two Republicans actually voted for the bill, a small miracle these days.
Ah, but when has Lingle ever let facts get in the way of finger-pointing?
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