• Sarah Palin of Alaska said the state is ready to accept the money for construction projects, but she is sharply critical of other spending on social programs. One could say something about a bridge, but it's too easy.
• Bobby Jindal of Louisiana says he is applying some serious scrutiny: "We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars."
• Haley Barbour of Mississippi started some political fireworks back home when he said he might refuse some of the money, declaring that "there may be some things that we'd be better off not to take." His office is now discussing the package internally, before they make a further comment.
• Rick Perry of Texas previously co-authored an op-ed piece with Sanford in the Wall St. Journal, standing with him against the bill. But now Perry says he's examining the money to see how much he'll take, depending on the strings attached: "We need the freedom to pick and choose."
Also up in the air is Jan Brewer, the new Republican governor of Arizona. Brewer's self-proclaimed "stimulus" package was actually composed of spending cuts, and thus far she has not yet formally requested the money.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/cha-ching-or-not-which-gop-governors-could-really-turn-down-stimulus-bucks.php
Bookmarking.
This is tough.
If the Red states turn down the stimulus money the Feds won’t spend less, the blue states will just get more. The solution is start winning elections again instead of declining stimulus money, I think.