Articles

Florida stimulus share 'very encouraging,' Gov. Crist says

by Wes Allison

Posted on February 13, 2009 – St. Petersburg Times

WASHINGTON — Florida stands to gain a whopping $4.3 billion to helppeople who have lost their jobs keep their health insurance and toprovide health care for the poor under the economic stimulus planexpected to pass Congress this week. The state is also in line formillions of dollars for highway projects and school systems.

Althoughdetails remained sketchy Thursday about how much of the $789 billionactually will reach Florida and how it will be spent, Republican Gov.Charlie Crist and Democratic members of Congress said they expect thebill to help fill the state's budget deficit, jump-start stalled roadconstruction projects, including work on the I-4 connector, pay for newwater projects and pump millions of dollars into Florida's medicalschools for biomedical research.

"We're not still sure exactlywhat the final number is going to be for Florida," Crist toldAfrican-American lawmakers who met with him at the Governor's Mansion."But it looks like every hour we get closer to a final resolution, andI think that gets to a very good place."

Crist predictedFlorida's share of the stimulus would be almost enough to cover nextyear's projected budget deficit, unofficially between $5 billion and $6billion.

"It's very, very encouraging," Crist said. "I shudder to think what it would be like if this wasn't moving forward."

Rep.Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, the only member of the Tampa Bay areacongressional delegation expected to vote for the bill when it reachesthe House floor today, said the plan "provides the paddle, theelectronic shock to the system, and then tells the patient that we havea plan for recovering for the long term."

"If it doesn't produceresults, then we'll be held accountable," added Castor, the area's onlyDemocratic member of Congress. "But I think folks need to know thatwe're up here fighting for them and this plan is good for business andpeople in the Tampa Bay area."

Some $4.3-billion will go directlyto funding Medicaid, the insurance program for the poor, and to helpingpeople who have been laid off pay for health insurance offered throughtheir former employers.

The House is expected to pass the billtoday, with Senate passage likely today or Saturday. But as Thursdaydrew to a close, Democratic leaders still could provide little morethan broad outlines of how the money will be spent, aggravatingcongressional watchdogs and Republicans who complained of being leftout of the process.

Not a single Republican in the House backedthe measure when it first came to the floor two weeks ago, and onlythree Republican senators supported it. Republicans generally complainthat the bill is too costly and includes too few tax cuts, and theycontend that an emergency stimulus bill is no place to provide fundingfor schools and many other projects.

"It's basically likethrowing close to $1 trillion against the wall and hoping somethingwill stick," said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor. "We should beworking in a bipartisan fashion. Experts should be called in totestify, economists and the like."

With a few exceptionsapparently for pet projects for senior lawmakers, the bill does notidentify specific projects for funding.

Instead, states andlocalities will get the money by applying for grants or throughexisting formulas that provide funding for schools, Medicaid and thelike. For road projects, Florida Department of Transportation officialswill coordinate requests with local governments.

Don Skelton, DOTsecretary for District 7, which includes Tampa Bay, said first on hislist is construction of the Interstate 4 connector, which will funneltruck traffic from the Port of Tampa directly to the interstatehighways. Next is completing work to convert the central portion ofU.S. 19 in Pinellas County to a controlled-access highway, followed byrebuilding I-275 between Westshore Boulevard and downtown Tampa.

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