PA Rep Curt Schroder (R-155) recently discussed the impact of the democrat supported spending bill on Southeastern Pennsylvania with PACC. Representative Schroder is currently working on legislation that requires the Pennsylvania Assembly to approve the transportation projects that will receive this federal funding. The current requirements of the spending bill allow for only ‘shovel ready’ projects to receive funding. This boils down to 7.37 trillion tax payer dollars allocated for some maintenance projects and a trail in Chester County.
PACC: Let us get this straight: The infrastructure money in the stimulus bill, in Pennsylvania, can only be used for shovel-ready projects that could not make it into the plan prioritizing our most important infrastructure projects?
CS: And by definition there are few, if any, needed projects that are shovel-ready and not in the up front, funding stage of the TIP.
PACC: Seriously. You’re saying, by definition, the first projects to get funded with this money must, statutorily, not be amongst the Commonwealth’s most pressing needs. Why?
CS: Well, that’s a question for President Obama, and Democrats in Congress who wrote the legislation. And, perhaps, Governor Rendell. I couldn’t tell you, exactly. But I can tell you what the result seems to be: Chester County is getting some maintenance paving projects, and a trail. That’s it!
You can read the rest of the interview and Rep. Schroder’s fiscal plan can be found HERE.
Read it then sign up for a Tea Party in your part of the country.
ummm… isn’t the concept behind the stimulus to stimulate? Like, lets gets some projects going that are ready (so the name SHOVEL READY), so they create jobs now, when we need them…
I guess the only “shovel-ready” project left will be the double-fenced wall at the southern US border.
It seems to me that our Government is good at passing, but not implementing laws.
“This boils down to 7.37 trillion”. The state should have no problem spending .37 trillion which will be the amount left after the Murtha and Specter families bleed off their share.
Blast:
These are not the most pressing infrastructure issues facing Chester County, and will not create additional jobs that were not already scheduled to commence. They happen to be at this moment ‘shovel ready’ and eligible for funding, every other project in development is cut off from this funding. It makes absolutely no sense and Chester County will not see by and large any financial benefit of this spending bill.
This spending bill is simply a make work plan, not an economic plan. This government has thrown good tax dollars into a bad plan.
That is a shame that your local government was not prepared with worth wild projects (in your opinion), however, the stimulus bill was not only for infrastructure development, but to as you say “This spending bill is simply a make work plan” yep… it is to make work, and coupled with improvements in the economy might just move us back to growth instead of the spiral downward we presently see.
Work = Jobs
Personally I would love to see every penny spent on projects of everlasting value, like Hoover Dams etc, but that takes years to implement and will not help the present day economic situation.
You are correct, Blast, my local and state government lead by democrats are not prepared to do anything, accept pad their supporters with federal money being allocated to the State.
If you had read the entire interview with Curt Schroder you would have discovered that this Republican is leading a legislative initiative to overturn the ill conceived ‘shovel ready’ federal requirement. His legislation would require the PA assembly to select the transportation projects that receive funding, regardless of their TIP standing.
The tax payer is spending about 300,000 per projected job. Can you describe the average salary and longterm outlook for these projected jobs? Temporary or ‘shovel ready’ work is simply a sugar high with no impact on stabilizing a local economy. It only creates a vacuum for more temporary, low paying jobs. As much as a marvel the Hoover Dam is, it did not end the Depression, the Dam simply contributed to the extension of the depression.
The economy will improve all on its own, the spending bill authorized by Dems + 3 Rino’s is designed simply to transfer private sector industry into government bureaucracy. What Curt is revealing, and I’m sure I will find the same for Philadelphia county, is the boots on the ground ineffectiveness of this spending bill. A debt that myself, my children and grandchildren will be paying off with no intrinsic benefits gained.
Even the
This whole thing has been “Shovel Ready.” The financial executives have been shoveling the profits, Their companies shoveled the whole mess over to teh Federal government to fix, They and the MSM have been shoveling even higher about how it’s going to save us, we think they all should shovel it (“!!!!”) and future generations will have to shovel their way out.