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Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Isakson and Chambliss explain their votes against the Obama stimulus package
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No doubt you’ve noticed that the U.S. Senate has passed a stimulus package on a vote of 61 to 37, with three Republicans supporting $838 billion measure.
As they indicated over the weekend, U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss voted against it, and issued a joint press release in explanation:
“This legislation is yet another example of Congress throwing money at the symptoms but not getting to the root of the problem,” Isakson said. “While there are some good provisions in this bill, it is primarily spending money on programs that should not be categorized as stimulus and will not do anything to help our economy. Funding studies of global warming or re-seeding the Capitol lawn aren’t going to stimulate anything.”
“Instead of focusing on three major issues - job creation, housing and compassion for Americans who have lost jobs through no fault of their own - to boost the economy, this bill has morphed into a bloated government giveaway,” said Chambliss. “The majority in Congress has been in runaway mode when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars. This legislation is yet another sign that Washington is more concerned with pet projects than with the welfare of taxpayers.”
In an interview with my AJC colleague Bob Keefe, Chambliss said he wished Obama well. “I hope it works. But if we get six to eight months down the road into this fall and we don’t see a major improvement in the economic conditions in this country,” he said, “we’re going to have all this money obligated out there.”
In their press release, the senators cited Isakson’s proposal for a $15,000 homebuyer credit, which remains in the bill. The Wall Street Journal has a short but intelligent analysis of the tax credit’s prospects:
It’s far from certain that the House will accept the Senate version, which includes far more generous credits. The House version would modify an existing $7,500 credit so that it wouldn’t have to be repaid, while the Senate goes much further by doubling the credit, removing income limits, and extending it to existing homeowners, from just first-time buyers.
The Senate version would also benefit more upper-middle income buyers. The current credit is refundable, which means that even those who pay little to no income tax could receive a government check, while the Senate credit is nonrefundable, so that buyers only stand to gain if they pay federal income taxes.
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Hard times ahead for Marietta’s F-22?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is a few days old, but the Hill, a D.C. newspaper/web site, has posted this bit of intelligence:
President Obama tried to tamp down expectations for the fervent supporters of Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor fighter jet as an overwhelming number of lawmakers are urging the White House to continue production of the aircraft.
Obama told Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) at the Democrats’ retreat in Williamsburg, Va. that he will make the decision of whether to continue buying the stealthy fighter jet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and always consider how the decisions affect the security of the country, according to presidential press pool reports….
Obama said he would always take into account local economies. However, he said: “We also have to deal with the debt and it is unsustainable. We have to make tough decisions.”
Scott’s 13th District includes Marietta, home to the F-22 plant.
Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) on Tuesday was gathering signatures on the state Senate floor for a resolution asking Obama to preserve funding for the F-22.
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Southern Voice in receivership
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Scott Henry of Creative Loafing has pointed one and all to a report from New York that the Southern Voice, an Atlanta weekly aimed at gays and lesbians, is in serious trouble:
The investment fund that owns the Washington Blade, the Southern Voice, Genre magazine, and other gay publications has been forced into receivership by the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), which will sell the fund’s assets and distribute the proceeds to investors.
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Senate decides against a veto fight with Gov. Sonny Perdue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Senate on Tuesday nixed a veto fight with Gov. Sonny Perdue.
The vehicle was to be H.B. 143, a bill to block repeal of a state-paid property tax break that would cost the average homeowner about $200 to $300.
Repealing the tax break immediately would save the state $428 million. Perdue has vowed to eliminate the tax break. House and Senate Republicans have sworn they’ll preserve it.
Earlier, the House not only had passed H.B. 143, but agreed by a two-thirds vote to transmit it immediately to the governor, to force Perdue to sign it into law or veto it while the Legislature remains in session.
The threat of an override was kindly, but clearly stated by House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
This morning, the Senate gave final passage to H.B. 143, but declined to transmit it immediately to Perdue. Which means the governor won’t have to make a decision on the bill until after the Legislature leaves town. Which is expected sometime this year.
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) said the decision to avoid a veto fight was made at the request of Perdue. “The governor’s concerned about having the bill get to him while he’s having to revise revenue estimates,” Rogers said. “We’d rather work with the governor and the House rather than create a scenario where people are defensive.”
H.B. 143 passed the Senate with 32 yea votes — a majority, but not close to the two-thirds needed in the 56-seat chamber. A Republican contact on the House side said that, when passing the news, senators did not cite the maintenance of relations with the governor as a motivation.
Rather, this Republican was told that Senate Democrats had decided to lock down on the measure, and that Senate Republican caucus couldn’t muster the votes.
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Oxendine: He’d be ‘hard-pressed’ to describe benefits of GOP rule
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After seven years of Republican rule in the state Capitol, the GOP — at least the top layer — has become something to run away from, if state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is any measure.
The Thomasville Times-Enterprise has this account of a trip the 2010 candidate for governor made to south Georgia:
The 46-year-old Republican told a small gathering at The Plaza that he has grown disenchanted with his party and its lack of accomplishments.
“If I had to articulate why Republicans are doing a better job of running the state than the Democrats did, I’d be hard-pressed to find the words,” he said.
Oxendine, a lifelong conservative, swept into office in 1994, becoming the first Republican to head a major state agency in Georgia. He was the leading Republican vote-getter in his last two elections.
“What I liked about the Republican Party is that I believed it was more democratic than the Democratic Party,” Oxendine said. “It was truly run by everyday Georgians. It was the grassroots.
“The people ran the party.”
Oxendine, however, said too many Republicans changed their philosophy while currying favor with corporations and lobbyists.
“Large corporations and lobbyists — not all of them, but most of them — go with the power,” he said. “If the Republicans are in power, they’ll be with the Republicans. If Democrats are in power, they’ll be with the Democrats. So why should we change our party just to make them happy?
“We need to stay with the people who brought us to power.”
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Talk of reviving the Northern Arc is premature, says activist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anyone who’s taken the trouble to run a thumb down the length of H.B. 277, House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith’s bill proposing a statewide sales tax, would find Project No. 12 to be noteworthy:
A program for the negotiation and granting of a concession for the construction, improvement, and operation of a tolled roadway connection between Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 not less than 15 miles north of the northernmost point of Interstate 285.
It is, in fact, the Northern Arc, the road project that helped topple Gov. Roy Barnes in 2002, by stampeding homeowners and not a few environmentalists into the arms of the Republican party and Sonny Perdue — who promised to kill it.
One of the leaders of the Northern Arc Task Force was Jeff Anderson of Forsyth County.
Anderson looks at any talk of a revival of the project, even if certified by a state Legislature, with a high degree of skepticism. “Something may happen after Sonny’s out of office,” said Anderson, a consultant by occupation. “But the way the funding rules are these days, I don’t see it as a priority.”
Cost of the project was about $3.1 billion back in the day, a figure that’s probably doubled.
Anderson dissolved the NATF several years ago, toward the end of Perdue’s first term. “Can we get it activated again? You bet,” he said.
