LIHU‘E — In a break from her Republican counterparts in Washington, Gov. Linda Lingle is unopposed to the $787 billion stimulus plan that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, according to her Chief of Staff Barry Fukunaga. “Governors tend to
LIHU‘E — In a break from her Republican counterparts in Washington, Gov. Linda Lingle is unopposed to the $787 billion stimulus plan that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, according to her Chief of Staff Barry Fukunaga.
“Governors tend to favor the stimulus more than the representatives or the senators because they see the impact that these kinds of assistance programs can infuse” on the state level, Fukunaga said in an interview Tuesday. “Gov. Lingle doesn’t necessarily think the stimulus of and by itself is the perfect solution, but there is definitely some opportunities within it that could benefit Hawai‘i. We would certainly do our best to take advantage of the opportunity.”
The stimulus package, titled in Congress as the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” and designed to put millions of Americans to work and keep a struggling economy afloat through a deepening recession, was met with almost unanimous disapproval from Republican lawmakers.
All of 178 right-wing representatives in the House either voted “nay” or declined to vote altogether; all but three of 41 Republican senators voted against the measure. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives 246-183 and the U.S. Senate 60-38.
Asked if Lingle had any ideological reservations about the plan, Fukunaga said Lingle “understands the basis for it and just wants to take advantage of it. The opportunity is not something we’d turn our back on. It is important to our state.”
Estimates for the amount Hawai‘i could receive from the package vary. U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat, said Monday that the legislation would filter some $1 billion to the Aloha State in the form of infrastructure improvements, federal assistance for state programs and tax breaks for residents. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, also a Democrat, has said that number exceeds $2 billion.
Also up in the air are the various processes by which the funds will be administered. Some money will find its way to the people directly in the form of reduced federal withholding from paychecks while other funds will filtered through county and state governments. Hirono said Lingle, state legislators and the four county mayors will play a critical role in making the stimulus work at the local level, in part by prioritizing the projects.
Fukunaga said his office was still seeking guidance and clarity from federal authorities on “murky” issues such as the implementation of education and construction funding. He said the funds will likely percolate down later in 2009.
He said the urgent nature of the bill’s passage could “reduce the field” of qualifying projects to only those that are “shovel ready” rather than those that might be more significant.
Asked if he believed the stimulus plan as a whole would be successful, Fukunaga defined recovery as “when people have enough confidence to start spending instead of just saving or hunkering down.”
“I think it’ll start the process, but it’ll be a lot slower process than people had anticipated,” he said, noting Inouye and some economists had already floated the idea of a second stimulus effort. “It will help, but it won’t be total solution to issues that we’re wrestling with. Our responsibility is to do the best we can with what we have.”
For more information on the stimulus plan’s implementation, visit recovery.gov.
Michael Levine, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com
