Free Republic

Do insolvent states actually believe other states should bail them out? In June 2009, I was invited to introduce Michael Reagan at an event in Anchorage. In my remarks as Governor of Alaska, I warned against President Obama’s debt-ridden stimulus bill and its effect on all our state budgets. I believed that the bill’s benefits would be limited because government would grow exponentially, and I warned that the package was equivalent to a federal bribe with fat strings attached that created new unfunded mandates for state governments. At the time, most state legislatures, including Alaska’s, chose to ignore that warning....

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois is lining up with other states begging for potential federal stimulus dollars, but only projects that can begin quickly will be eligible, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday. “The goal is to help jumpstart the economy by getting money out the door to projects that are ready to go,” said LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Peoria. To decide who gets what share of the potential $1.8 billion pie from the federal government, Illinois lawmakers created a task force to distribute the money. State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, is on the committee. “We’re looking for shovel-ready...

"Today, President-elect Barack Obama is meeting with governors of the several states to discuss federal approaches for balancing state budgets. When he does, he must be careful not to create a new federal entitlement program that thoroughly corrupts the state budgetary process by holding harmless derelict spending."