… Ohio is concerned that local, nonprofit community action agencies – where the $267 million will end up – will not have the capacity to spend such an enormous amount of money over the next two years.

Before the federal stimulus package, Ohio would have received about $21 million for this program, said Mark Shanahan, energy adviser to Gov. Ted Strickland.

“We are looking at what the new federal rules are and whether we can use up to 20 percent of the money for job training,” he said. …

The $267 million being talked about is Ohio’s amount from the U.S. Dept. of Energy to do energy efficiency upgrades in the homes of the elderly, low and middle income earners.

Justin Huggins Displays His Posse Comitatus Membership Card

Meet Justin Higgins, a 19 year-old Ohio State University college Republican who’s got things all figured out.  I mean if it weren’t for Constitutional provisions against one so young holding the nation’s highest office, we could put young Justin there in the White House, hold him in high esteem like a young Dalai Llama and he could point us all along the path to political and economic enlightenment.

For now, though, we’ll have to settle for Saturday, March 14 at the Statehouse in Columbus where Higgins will be the master of ceremonies for The Columbus Tea Party.  The party begins at 11 a.m. and is sponsored by College Republicans and Americans for Prosperity.  (Do you know any Americans who are not for prosperity?)

Higgins and others are wigging out over the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the Stimulus Bill.  The notion that the need for this bill rests in part on the unregulated economic behavior of most of the world’s major banks, investment houses and insurers is completely lost on them.  While Justin no doubt luxuriates in his college boy lifestyle subsidized by Mom and Dad, he’s got the time for contemplation to say stupid things like this on 610-WTVN radio today:

We’re going to protest and basically tell Governor Strickland that we don’t want him taking this stimulus money because the last thing we need is more unfunded mandates and more ridiculous spending on the state level.

When these funds run out, we have to pay for it.

Allow me to get right to the point with young master Higgins:  What the hell are you talking about?

Governor Strickland?  Direct aid to for state budgets was partially his idea – borne from the extraordinary circumstances within which the U.S. economy is mired.  How many prisons can we close?  Are we going to offer no mental health services?  Do we close state parks?  This is a national problem and the federal government is helping the states get through the next couple of years.  Oh, and Justin – should Gov. Strickland not take the money to shore up the state’s unemployment compensation fund, or the money that will keep small rural or urban hospitals from closing their doors or the funding to fix or improve highways or bridges?

Unfunded mandates?  Who are you Higgins – a Newt Gingrich staffer circa 1994?  An unfunded mandate is when the federal or other government imposes a rule or law on a subservient political entity that will cost said entity resources to implement – which are not provided.  Whatever you think of the stimulus bill, you can hardly call it a vehicle for unfunded mandates.  The majority of the money within the legislation moves through already existing federal funding streams.  Medicaid is a good example.  There are not new Medicaid programs in the bill, but there are large increases in funding to states to keep services going while the economy is in the tank.  The federal government is not saying, “build more highways.”  The federal government is increasing the dollars available to states for transportation projects.  Bringing up “unfunded mandates” is inane in this situation and either shows the party organizer’s stupidity or that he got his sets of talking points mixed up.

Finally, “When these funds run out, we have to pay for it.”  Huh?  Dude, the state of Ohio is not on the hook for paying this back.  I don’t believe Higgins and the other Tea Partiers understand what they’re talking about.  Their own Republican Party failed them and the rest of the country for eight years, six of which they controlled Congress as well as the White House.  We’re suffering for their mistakes.  This economic stimulus is known as priming the pump and it’s what responsible governments do when the private sector economy is coming down around them.

What’s really going on is that the 2010 governor’s race is beginning to get on Ohio Republican Party leaders’ minds.  Ted Strickland has been nothing but a responsible steward of the executive branch of state government.  He has the support of Ohio’s business community because of common sense regulatory reform and electrical generation legislation which he wrote.  He’s not raising taxes to pay for the recession or fixing education.  Bringing him into the whole Tea Party thing is just thoughtless politics.

Interestingly enough, there are philosophical points which the Tea Partiers could argue regarding the economy and the Obama Administration’s policies.  The problem is, those philosophical underpinnings have either been tested or failed or conservative leaders failed their movement.  The only thing this country has going for it politically right now is Barack Obama and governors like Ted Strickland.  These times call for action and they call for government investment.

One thing you probably won’t hear at the Tea Party on Capitol Square next Saturday is an alternative.  You’ll hear more about conspiracy theories regarding the president’s place of birth than you’ll hear about alternatives.

Project Name: Broader Bands

Project Description: The Columbus Dispatch Co. should begin to use broader rubber bands to secure the newspapers which are delivered to homes across Franklin and the surrounding counties – the skinny ones break.  The larger rubber bands will require an additional person to help stretch the bands so that they fit over the rolled-up newspaper.

Project cost and stimulus created is listed as $300.

President Obama talks to governors earlier today - AP Photo

$15 Billion in Medicaid Budget Relief for states will arrive on Wednesday

Ohio’s Take Over $500 million

Gov. Ted Strickland and the nation’s other governors were told today by President Barack Obama that by the time they get home from their meeting in Washington, D.C., Medicaid relief funds will be available to their states.

Obama said that $15 billion in Medicaid funds will be available to help ease state budgets by Wednesday.  Ohio’s amount of relief comes to $500,169,636, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Medicaid relief was part of the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the so-called economic stimulus bill.

Republicans have said that money to stabilize state budgets, such as Medicaid relief, is not stimulus.  However, in many states the largest portion of the budget is related to programs like Medicaid.  Small hospitals, doctors and community service providers rely on Medicaid funds in order to provide services.  Without Medicaid funding relief, many working poor would have only emergency rooms as a health care option.  This is the most expensive care and a deluge of charity cases could break some health care providers.  Medicaid relief keeps services viable and ensures hospitals, doctors and community service providers will not have to cut staff.

In part, Obama told the governors today:

By the time most of you get home; money will be waiting to help 20 million vulnerable Americans in your states keep their health care coverage,” he told a gathering of the nation’s governors in the State Dining Room of the White House. “Children with asthma will be able to breathe easier, seniors won’t need to fear losing their doctors, and pregnant women with limited means won’t have to worry about the health of their babies.

According to the state’s stimulus website, as of Friday 7,495 proposed projects had been catalogued.  For now, the state is using the website to share stimulus information and collect data from organizations, counties, cities and the like regarding their “stimulus-ready” project proposals.  The information being collected is not an application for stimulus dollars, but rather a first step for the state in getting a big picture inventory of proposals.  Project proposers meeting stimulus requirements will be contacted about the formal application process.

Once stimulus dollars are being spent, the state’s site will be a place to check up on progress and see how our money is being spent.

Go here to see the site’s FAQ.