Bypassing Haley Barbour, Mississippi House votes to accept all recovery package funds.
Bypassing Haley Barbour, Mississippi House votes to accept all recovery package funds.
Last month, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) criticized “excess spending” in the federal recovery package, saying he (like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal) would reject $50 million in unemployment benefits for part-time workers. But yesterday, the state legislature passed a bill circumventing Barbour:
House Concurrent Resolution 64 certifies the state’s intent to request and use all of the money, even if Barbour rejects some of it. It cleared the full House after a three-hour partisan debate, with Democrats advocating the bill’s passage and Republicans arguing against it. The bill cleared the House with 69 lawmakers voting for it, and 52 voting against it. Senate Democrats have introduced a similar resolution that urges Barbour to accept all of the money.
Barbour is now pressing the state Senate to reject the House legislation. Curiously, he claimed that extending unemployment benefits “would mean fewer jobs for our working people.”
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I hope this idea catches on in states like AK, LA and the others with Gov’s grandstanding.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:14 pmOUCH! It’s gotta suck to be one of the “principled” ‘pubs these days! Ready to screw your constituents for political gain, but no one there to prop you up!
It’s all or nothing, Haley. Take it or leave it. And please do feel free to leave it.
PEACE
March 5th, 2009 at 2:15 pm.
Governors who think State relief is irrelevant should themselves then become irrelevant.
.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:17 pmhellinabucket
I think that was the plan all along. That way these Buffoons can have their cake (stimulus package) and eat it too.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:18 pmI hope Barbour decides to retire soon because he is outta there!
March 5th, 2009 at 2:18 pmgood thing Mississippi has checks and balances.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:20 pmI can’t remember a time when Republicans actually voted FOR something that would help the working man.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:21 pmMississippi ranks #4 in federal dollars received vs. paid. For every dollar Miss. pays, they get $1.77. Only NM, AK and WV rank above.
Governor Blubber, take it a step further! Reject the stimulus money, sure, but how about rejecting any and all earmarks? Return the excess federal dollars beyond what you pay.
Stand up, Man! Stand up for your principles!
PEACE
March 5th, 2009 at 2:23 pmSur..prize!!! Sur….prize!! Sur….prize!!!
March 5th, 2009 at 2:26 pmIs it not ironic that the States that have the highest corruption, highest poverty and highest uneployment are the States that say they will reject the stimulus money..Well at least they are the lowest in one catgory…IQ
March 5th, 2009 at 2:32 pmThis would be a pretty good indication of what Haley has as an approval rating. I remember him when W was running for president. I would never trust that man for anything.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:32 pmBarbour is now pressing the state Senate to reject the House legislation. Curiously, he claimed that extending unemployment benefits would “would mean fewer jobs for our working people.”
I just wish these dingleberries would explain what this means. Maybe they think that their constituents prefer being out of work, and would easily find jobs if only they weren’t getting the rocking chair money.
More evidence of the contempt that Republican politicians have for working people, because I’m guessing that the real problem is that Mississippi has no gawdamn JOBS!
March 5th, 2009 at 2:32 pmI’m sure the Republicans will canvas the state touting the extended unemployment benefits even though they all voted against them.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pmGood for the House doing the right thing. Barbour is a fool. And now he’ll turn around and say the state’s recovery has been slowed by the influx of tax dollars.
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
March 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pmcircumvention?
is that covered under Haley’s plan? what’s the co-pay on that?
maybe MS voters will show him some more circumvention come election time?
March 5th, 2009 at 2:35 pmKrystal good Gomer imatation. We can only hope that he gets his way. That should let his people see what he thinks of them.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:39 pmGood for them! How these people can turn down desperately needed help for the citizens of their states just amazes me!
March 5th, 2009 at 2:39 pmWhat are they thinking? I just cannot imagine standing in the way of someone getting unemployment benefits so that they can survive in this horrible recession. It is cruel. Deliberate cruelty makes me mad.
What’s really pissing off these Governors & even State Legislators is they don’t have complete control of the money.
President Obama’s staff know this, & have put safeguards in the stimulus money to prevent a small group of people diverting, confiscating or just sitting on these funds.
You know you’re on the right track when you’re pissing off Rushpublicans!
March 5th, 2009 at 2:39 pmIt still seems to be a partisan vote, but still I am glad there were enough rational people in the Mississippi legislature to put their statesmen above their ideology.
Hopefully the same happens with Jindal, and Republicans can learn that there is a time for politics and a time to get work done.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:42 pmAll the Republican governors who claimed they wouldn’t take the money KNEW it was an empty gesture, that their legislatures would override them and accept the money. Thus they get wingnut props for “standing up to the leftist socialist commies” without suffering the consequences at the ballot box when their constituents feel the pain.
Hypocrites.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:46 pmThis doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. Dems hold a 73-46 advantage in the House, and a 27-25 lead in the senate.
Blue Dogs or not, they realize the state is hurting and that they aren’t in a position to let political posturing take precedence over the needs of the populace
March 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pmralph the wonder llama Says:
All the Republican governors who claimed they wouldn’t take the money KNEW it was an empty gesture, that their legislatures would override them and accept the money. Thus they get wingnut props for “standing up to the leftist socialist commies” without suffering the consequences at the ballot box when their constituents feel the pain.
Any Democrat running against these governors in the future will have the opportunity to play these videos over and over during commercials — along with suitable commentary. The governors think they’re being canny when in fact they only appeal to the nuttiest of the wingnuts.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pmOur governor is a Washington Lobbyist tied to Big Money. He cares absolutely nothing for the common person in Mississippi. He along with the Lieutenant Governor of the State reek with the stench of indifference.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:11 pm“would mean fewer jobs for our working people.”
This sounds that like Steele’s comment that went something like, working for the government isn’t a job, it’s just work? Is that how it went?
March 5th, 2009 at 3:21 pmPlease add McCain, Kyl, and the rest of the Repubs from Arizona to the list. None of them want the recovery money for Arizona. They all voted “NO”! against the expenditure. However, our Repub governor is taking all she can get, then has the unmitigated nerve to call for a “special election” to have the voters decide on an additional tax. She nor the Repub legislature have the nerve to add another tax on the people. Wont help education, the poor, children, health care for the indigent. C’mon folks. Move to Arizona to see how really screwed up politics can be.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:30 pmI hope and pray he doesn’t get reelected! Scoundrel!
March 5th, 2009 at 3:35 pmThere is no such thing as a principled neocon rightwing Republican.
They only worry about their own political power and the money that they can steal for the rich.
March 5th, 2009 at 4:02 pmBETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
In order to gain the political power they’ve enjoyed over the last ten years, Republican moderates and Reagan conservatives made a pact with the devil (the religious right and Limbaugh racists, fear-mongers and hate-baiters) to achieve the numbers they needed to defeat Democrats. It was a conscious political decision to manipulate and exploit emotions to win rather than to be intellectually and morally honest and lose. Today, those Republican moderates and Reagan conservatives are caught between wanting to disassociate themselves with and or casting out the devils they empowered, and the karmic reality that they don’t have the numbers to hold on to or regain power without accepting and even advocating values that are dividing and destroying their party. The survival of the Republican Party has become so dependent on radicalism, that they have no significant political power WITH or WITHOUT the support of America’s lunatic fringe. The idiom about choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea is certainly appropriate as Republicans are facing the dilemma of choosing between two equally undesirable alternatives that both result in Republican impotence in mainstream American politics.
March 5th, 2009 at 4:34 pmthese rethugs wouldnt know a principle unless he has his pants down and gettin paddled by one…old school but they would tend to like it…they know when things start too look up you will see them all over the tube claimeing that they were responsible for it all…
March 5th, 2009 at 6:47 pmThat old right wing republican political hack has a lot of influence down there doesn’t he? Maybe he can become Limbaugh’s assistant or better yet bait Bret Favre’s fish hooks since Bret is apparently retired now.
March 5th, 2009 at 7:19 pmMississippi Blossoming.
March 5th, 2009 at 7:21 pmJust as I predicted. The Guv claims he won’t take the stim and the legislature overrules him. The state gets the cash and the Guv gets to keep his “conservative” cred. No big news here.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:20 pmWell, no surprise here, but you folks sure didn’t pay attention in your High School GOVERNMENT class.
A little history lesson. The States created the federal government in the first place. There are SPECIFIC restrictions in the U.S. Constitution against usurpation of power by the federal government.
Our founding fathers in their wisdom knew hoe central governments would always seek to gain as much power as possible and thus the 10th AMENDMENT to the constitution was put in place.
Now, you clowns seem to know NOTHING of this principle nor have you likely read the federalist papers, specifically the writings of Alexander Hamilton on this subject!
Our new President and his cronies in the House and Senate are making an ALL OUT power grab and a number of states have now filed lawsuits based upon the 10th amendment to put a stop to it.
A number of the provisions in the new stimulus bill clearly VIOLATE the 10th Amendment. Smart legislators in a number of States UNDERSTAND this and the implications of accepting money from Washington under conditions that bypass state laws.
I for one applaud them and other members of the budding “10th Amendment” movement as I do not want to live in a country that looks like VEnezuela, etc.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:52 pmSmells like fish.
March 5th, 2009 at 9:09 pmO ne
B ig
A $$
M istake
A merica
truer words were never spoken! Hahahahahahaha
March 5th, 2009 at 9:18 pmHere’s a pretty good explanation:
March 5th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Now if you read the quoted information in my last post carefully and in light of our U.S. Constitution and history, you can begin to see that the Federal government we suffer under today has usurped the rights and powers we have as FREE MEN.
It’s only getting worse, folks.
March 5th, 2009 at 9:31 pmTim Vaculik Says:
It’s only getting worse, folks.
Yes, it IS getting worse. Only I’m talking about your twisting and deliberate misinterpretation of the Constitution.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:40 pmNot to mention how BORING he manages to make it…
March 6th, 2009 at 3:19 amyes, taxes are slavery…way to trivialize those who suffered and virtually built the South off their blood, tears, and sweat…
funny, you were never complaining, Tim, when the Bush administration sought to bring Big Brother into your home…it’s only slavery when your money is concerned…eh? You’re willing to piss away all your other rights as long as the richest 1%, I’m sorry, I mean you get to keep all of your money…
March 6th, 2009 at 3:19 am“fewer jobs for working people?” If people are working, they have a job. By definition: If you’re working, you have a job.
Duh. Fewer opportunities for working people perhaps, but the jobs bill isn’t designed to create jobs for “working people”. It’s designed to create jobs for people who aren’t working, who are seeking employment.
If you understood English, you would be in so much a better position to employ your eligible, but unemployed, to use the money allocated for the benefit of your eligible and willing, but unemployed.
Why the heck aren’t you unemployed?
March 6th, 2009 at 3:42 amFopr those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m talking about Haley Barbour’s statements in connection with rejecting funds offered under the stimulous package:
“Curiously, he claimed that extending unemployment benefits “would mean fewer jobs for our working people.”
So for the great state of Mississippi, your Governor will “reject $50 million in unemployment benefits for part-time workers.”
You go dude! Maybe all of those unemployed workers will move to Georgia, which is taking the money. That way, Mississippi’s unemployment numbers will diminish and the Gov’s stats will improve. Good governance. Always great to know that your elected officials are looking out for your ass and not their own.
March 6th, 2009 at 3:54 amAgain, why the heck is the Governor of Mississippi, Barbour, the state with the lowest literacy rates in the country, with the lowest life expectancy in the country, with the largest number of toxic waste sites in the country, who is turning down $50 million in federal aid
NOT UNEMPLOYED?
Mississippi, take note. You are slum dogs and have no chance in hell of becoming millionaires . . . your state is a PCB dumping ground . . . chances of you getting a brain tumor are bigger than my chances of getting a free coffee at Starbucks tomorrow (I know the barrista, my chances are good) . . . you may not be the most well educated, but you can vote . . . when you see the name “Barbour” on the piece of paper, check anything but that. Check anything, but DO NOT CHECK BARBOUR.
March 6th, 2009 at 4:01 amMississippi,
Gov. BARBOUR is turning down $50 million in federal aid designed to help you.
Your governor is screwing you. Shout about it.
March 6th, 2009 at 4:06 amFrankly,
I know a long line of Mississippi politicians. I know them well and have liked them through the years; however, I can say that I have always been troubled by the downtrodden ways of Mississippi. Unfortunately, based upon my relationships with those politicians, their families, the oil and gas interests in Mississippi, I can say, the state is totally corrupt. You folks need new leadership and better representation. Demand honesty.
March 6th, 2009 at 4:16 am‘would mean fewer jobs for our working people’.
March 6th, 2009 at 12:15 pmWTF? Where do these wingnuts come up with this stuff? How can it possibly mean fewer jobs if the people are already unemployed?
Stupid never ceases to amaze me.
” Just as I predicted. The Guv claims he won’t take the stim and the legislature overrules him. The state gets the cash and the Guv gets to keep his “conservative” cred. No big news here.”
Just remember, elections will come again…and who do you think is going to get the brunt of disatisfaction opposing the money???? Not the Dems!
March 6th, 2009 at 1:10 pm