Remember when Bobby Jindal said we was going to reject the unemployment benefits of the stimulus package?
It looks like we're going to have another situation like that. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford requested using the $700 million in stimulus funding to work off some of the state debt.
But that's not what Congress authorized the funding for.
From AP:
White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said in a letter to the Republican that the federal stimulus law doesn't allow President Barack Obama to make an exception for that cash. Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer had no immediate response, but the governor has said he would reject part of the stimulus money if Obama wouldn't give him flexibility in spending it.
The $787 billion stimulus legislation sets strict rules for the $53.6 billion being sent to help state budgets, Orszag wrote. It calls for 82 percent of the money to be used for public schools and colleges and 18 percent on public safety and other government services.
I would also add that it certainly doesn't stimulate anything but his chances for reelection with a balanced budget.
Allen McDuffee is a political reporter, investigative journalist and blogger. From 2011 to 2013 he covered policy, politics, ideas and think tanks for The Washington Post and has also written for The Nation, The American Prospect, Huffington Post and New York Observer, among others.
