Posted on 02/24/2004 1:19:55 PM PST by calcowgirl
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger emerged from meetings at the White House and the Capitol Monday predicting he would get "a lot" more federal money for California, but citing no specific commitments.
The governor met in a group with President Bush and one-on-one with Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He said afterward he expects the money to come.
"I expect to get a lot of it simply because, you know, I'm very persuasive and I'm like, you know, a tick that hangs on it and will not let go until I get what I want," Schwarzenegger told reporters outside Stevens' Capitol office.
Asked whether he'd gotten any commitments from Stevens, Schwarzenegger said: "I judge Sen. Stevens facial expressions and it was kind of like the kind of facial expression that indicated to me, 'You're right Arnold, you should get the money,' and so we're just waiting for the moment when they get us the money."
Stevens did not immediately respond to a request for comment left with his spokeswoman.
Schwarzenegger was in town for a National Governors Association conference, his first trip to Washington since taking office and his first chance to meet fellow governors.
Tuesday marks his 100th day in office, but he has had little success so far in fulfilling his campaign pledge to be "the Collectinator" of federal money for California. The budget Bush sent to Congress this month had little good news for the state.
Schwarzenegger said he talked to Stevens about federal reimbursement for jailing illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Paying for jailing criminal aliens is projected to cost California more than $700 million in the state fiscal year beginning in July, but Bush's budget deleted federal funding for the program.
He and Stevens also discussed homeland security funding, Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger had no private meeting with Bush, but the two sat at the same table at a banquet Sunday night and Schwarzenegger and the rest of the governors met with the president Monday morning. They talked about state issues including homeland security, welfare reform and highway funding.
On another topic, Schwarzenegger was asked at a news conference with other governors whether he supported a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and whether such an amendment would succeed in California.
Fellow Republican Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi said he supported such an amendment, and Olene Walker of Utah, also a Republican, said such an amendment would likely prove popular in her state. Schwarzenegger sidestepped the question.
"We have a law in California, and we now concentrate on the next thing, which is to get the economy back," he said. Conservative groups expect Bush to endorse a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.
Schwarzenegger opposes the gay marriages being performed in San Francisco, though he supports domestic partnership rights. California law says marriage is between a man and a woman.
Later Monday Schwarzenegger was attending a Republican Governors Association fund-raiser where donors were paying to get their pictures taken with him and President Bush. He was the only governor requested by the GOP governors group to pose for photos with donors, his spokesman said.
On Tuesday Schwarzenegger was to meet with Californians in Congress, then head to New York to raise money to promote Propositions 57 and 58, the state ballot measures to authorize $15 billion of borrowing and require balanced budgets and a reserve fund. The measures go before voters March 2.
Schwarzenegger said he was also meeting in New York with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, an economic adviser, "and all the big geniuses in the bond market to make sure that we get good rates for when we sell our bonds."
For the second day in a row Schwarzenegger mixed with the other governors Monday, but still stood out. He admonished reporters at a press conference to pay more attention to the other governors present.
"Let me just tell you something, each one of these governors is a star," Schwarzenegger said.
California was a rich state, still is for the most part. Their liberal state government has made their bed, let them lie in it. Why should the rest of us pay taxes to bail out their failed experiment with socialism not-so-lite?
No state should get any money from the federal treasury period. The only things the federal government should be spending money on are federal matters, like national defense, interstate highways, (and not those which are merely local freeways), the postal sytem, the mint, etc. If that means some states get nothing, to bad. We'd all pay lower taxes, and it would represent a return to the Constitution, at least in part.
I totally agree.
The concept of everyone contributing to things like the military seems to escape some people.
That would help California immensely. Right now we get back something like 70 cents to the dollar.
If all those midwestern farm states stopped draining off all the federal funds, we'd be doing all right.
Drew Garrett
Interesting, but irrelevent. The federal government doesn't exist to dole out money, equitably or not. If there is federal business to be done in California, then the money needs to be spent there. Otherwise it's a local matter. Before California sent so many liberals to Congress California had lots and lots of miltary bases, due to the presence of good ports, lots of land for manuevers, and good flying weather in many places. But those liberals raped the defense budget (and the NASA and DOE budgets, a good chunk of which was spent in California), and so the money is no longer spent on those things.
Just can't repeat that, or emphasize that enough! Yes indeed!
Bush MUST be re-elected, and damn the Treasury, the Constitution or any mere Law that gets in the way.
That's why YOU and I both support an EO that orders a Consitutional Amendment that will send $100 million to every registered Republican voter in California. And $100 BILIION to Mr. Terminator, the native of Austria who is entitled to be our next Emperor, ummm, President.
He just reads facial expressions so well!
Yeee HAH!
Why single out 'midwestern'?. California gets a chunk of that too.
In fact, Republican Senate candidate Bill Jones pulled in over $4 million! Cut all the subsidies out!
I was thinking the same thing. Since illegal immigration costs Californians billions of dollars every year, I wonder if there was any discussion about border control. That doesn't seem to be on the agenda it seems, even though Californians are screaming for it.
To make a Republican governor, a true Conservative hero, look good.
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