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Johnson tries to blame anyone but himself * UPDATED x3 * State funds gravely endangered ***

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Illinois

U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson says the economic stimulus bill the House passed this week was flawed.

The Urbana Republican on Thursday said he voted against the bill because it was too pricey and had “little or nothing to do” with job creation or improving the American economy.

Same day…

[Rep. Johnson said] “The bedrock of any stimulus must be tax relief. I support measures that reduce the tax burden on our families, that give small businesses incentives to create jobs and retain employees, that give people incentives to buy homes and energy-efficient products and that make permanent the AMT patch, among other things. These ideas have been presented to the House leadership and resoundingly rejected.”

As noted above, Johnson voted “No” on the stimulus plan in the House.

* But now Johnson is outraged that a project in his district is under fire by Senate Republicans…

U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, said on Wednesday he was “outraged” that the FutureGen clean coal plant was included in a “pork” list compiled by his GOP colleagues of projects in the federal stimulus package, even though neither the House nor Senate bills specifically made reference to FutureGen. […]

“If there is anything in this stimulus package that truly provides a stimulus, it is FutureGen,” Johnson said.

* Let us review, shall we? Johnson knocked the stimulus bill for having “little or nothing to do” with actual stimulus, and said that the “bedrock” of any stimulus bill should be tax relief. He voted “No.”

Then, when his $2 billion project is opposed, he cries that FutureGen was the only real stimulus proposal in the package.

Um, Tim, maybe you should’ve voted “Yes,” or at least kept your mouth shut.

I despise DC politics.

*** UPDATE 1 *** As Progress Illinois notes, the New York Times reports today that “centrists” in the US Senate are working to strip big chunks out of the stimulus bill. One of the areas on the chopping block?

$850 million for Amtrak

PI adds that the original draft “only allocates $1.1 billion for Amtrak to begin with.” So cutting $850 million out of the stimulus bill would make a big difference.

Johnson’s district includes the University of Illinois. UIUC students are heavily dependent upon Amtrak. Nice going, congressman.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Things are not looking good for Illinois’ budget problem….

Meetings intensified Thursday among a bipartisan bloc of senators seeking to trim close to $90 billion from a massive economic recovery bill nearing final action in the chamber. […]

State fiscal aid and education funding will be among the most sensitive proposed cuts, and if $90 billion is the goal, it would represent an estimated 25% cut.

*** UPDATE 3 *** TPM has more draft cuts to the states, which will likely grow today and tomorrow…

$24.786 Billion on “State Stabilization Money” [100% cut]
$15 Billion for “State Incentive Grants” [100% cut]
$6.75 Billion for “IDEA”, proposed cut 50%

Seem them all here.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:33 pm

Comments

Great.
Johnson is going “Sybil” on us.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:37 pm
Rich, I depise DC politics too, I wish DC politicans were as honest and caring as Illinois politicans

Comment by Go Illini Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:44 pm
Johnson’s Definition of Pork: “Spending outside Johnson’s district.”

Comment by Skeeter Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:45 pm
Johnson is simply following the Congressional Republican playbook: cede no ground and damn the consequences. Party before country!

He’s perfectly willing to follow John Boehner over the ledge and let the country slide into a depression. I hope his voters make him pay for his misplaced loyalty.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:48 pm
“The bedrock of any stimulus should be in my district.” That is what TJ is saying, and it plays into politics as usual. This is change?

Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:53 pm
Republicans are for smaller government and less spending when they are out of power. When in power they spend money in John McCain’s immortal words ‘like a bunch of drunken sailors’
The Dems pull the same kind of nonsense when their out of power as well.
A pox on both their houses.

train111

Comment by train111 Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:58 pm
NIMBY politics–it’s pork when it is NOT in my back yard.

Comment by Nearly Normal Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 12:58 pm
what good are tax cuts when nobody is making any money?

Comment by publius Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:04 pm
I second your comment about U of I students being heavily dependent on Amtrak. Rode it once a month for my first three years of college, until I finally got a car.

Comment by Amtraker Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:06 pm
Glad to see TJ called out - kudos Rich. At least Roskam won’t be out there crying about the smaller package, but you won’t see any projects in his district getting funded either . . .

Comment by carbon deforestation Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:06 pm
I am not an economist. Im just a guy that makes and spends money, but if the federal government is broke (record deficits and record debt) and the states are broke (ditto) where is this money coming from? And since the feds have apparently found a magic sourse of money, why cut anything? Why not double it. There is no way to pay for this stuff as it is. What can doubling it hurt?

Comment by Downstate weed chewing hick Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:14 pm
Johnson was right during the initial vote. We do not need this “pork” bill including Future Gen. ADM is working on the same process as are other corporations so the government does not need to be involved. Well, maybe some scientific involvement but not to build it.

Comment by Mattooner Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:30 pm
==the feds have apparently found a magic sourse of money==

Downstate: it’s called a Mint, and they literally print money there. Or, more accurately, they issue Treasury bonds on the promise–backed by the full faith and credit of the government–that it will get repaid. This money needs to get repaid someday, but in the last 40 years or so we have become used to being a debtor nation. As long as we can make at least the interest on our debt (now about $10,000,000,000,000 BEFORE any stimulus package) its not an issue. Say you have a credit card, and as long as you make the minimum monthly payment your credit limit goes up every year. So, you spend up to your limit every year. Meanwhile, that Balance Due keeps growing but your Minimum Payment goes up only a small amount. You are hooked on debt. In my field, we call that a debt spiral–until you hit bottom. Then it is called bankruptcy, insolvency, broke…whatever term you use, it is not good. But it looks like where we’re headed. So stock up on weeds to chew

Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:30 pm
The sad thing is that these congressmen can talk out of 15 sides of their mouths at once, but come reelection time their districts are so gerrymandered–(i.e. Johnson’s Il-15 is somewhat reasonable, but still leans pretty towards one party, however that Il-17 nightmare drawn to protect Lane Evans seat is way too much)–that you can’t get them out of office short of death.

train111

Comment by train111 Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:31 pm
The GOP is so laser-like focused on the size of the bill that they’re willing to sacrifice desperately needed aid to states. And why anyone would shortchange mass transit, considering the paltry sum originally allocated, is ludicrous.

The Obama administration, for its part, has performed quite poorly in its attempt to sell this bill, to the point that now blue dog Dems and moderate Republicans are slashing almost indiscriminately.

Comment by The Doc Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:31 pm
The “centrists” are one of the biggest problems in DC. I find it particularly interesting that most of their targets are not pork projects, nor are they projects such as research initiatives that will take years to yield a benefit, but rather what these self-styled “centrists” are trying to get rid of is current-year aid to states, localities, Amtrak and current construction projects. While leaving the future spending and pork in the project.

I’m tired of the “centrists”. If you want a real politician with a sense of public purpose, try Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who has indicated he’ll support the stimulus so long as it includes mortgage interest rate relief. Now there’s something that will actually help ordinary people cope. But no-one will ever confuse the staunchly conservative Grassley with a “centrist.”

Comment by Angry Chicagoan Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:32 pm
If Amtrack is worthy of funding, then include that billion+ in the next budget. It does NOT belong in this “stimulus” bill. Congrats to the bill’s opposition for knowing the difference. Too bad so many talking and blogging heads don’t.

Comment by Anonie! Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:33 pm
I believe tax cuts as stimulus has been tried for the past eight years and it still isn’t working.

The President is trying to cross party lines, but it’s not clear if anybody in Congress is participating. Too bad. Serves Johnson right.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 1:52 pm
Johnson: The GOP plan is to severely limit spending on the big projects and pull in earmarks for their own districts. This is intended to make the voters think their interests are being represented, but in reality the entire country is weakened in the process. Keep the hole in our local dike plugged while the rest of the nation floods. Country first! Right.

Comment by vole Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 2:04 pm
It’s commndable that Republican Congressman have rediscovered fiscal responsibility after 8 years of fiscal insanity promulgated by the most irrepsonsible presidential adminstration in history. I recall Dick Cheney’s famoos remark that “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”

Personally, I think Republicans and Democrats should give Obama the stimulus bill he originally sought, and then let the electorate decide who’s most responsible for our dismal economy two years from now. I’m not against stripping out really outrageous eleemnts of the stimulus package that the pork feeders are adding to the original proposal.

Personally, I trust Obama to try to do the right thing more than Congressional leaders in either party. Give our new POTUS a chance!

The awful truth is that no one really knows what to do/what will really work given the dire situation of the American economy.

Comment by Captain America Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 2:33 pm
Quimby, thank you, although I think I would sleep better if I didnt know.

train-I am in Tim Johnson’s district and you are correct. He ain’t goin’ anywhere. The elections are never even close.

Comment by Downstate weed chewing hick Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 2:35 pm
I Know it’s hard to do on a moment’s notice, but shouldn’t something like FutureGen be required to show a cost/benefit within a category (New Energy perhaps) so that it could be vetted against other worthwhile projects in the same category.

As far as Amtrak, I agree it should have structural funding, not a stimulus gimmick. the main issue with Amtrak is that it has also been “gerrymandered” to serve money-pit routes to make Congresspeople look good, not as a response to where the real needs are.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 2:54 pm
Amtrak

I will not come out for against it, but As a railfan–train111 says it all– I can tell you it was created for 1 purpose and 1 purpose alone–to protect union jobs.
As someone else posted above, there are indeed routes that are maintained to please this or that congressman. Case in point is a train called The Cardinal which makes 3 round trips per week between Chicago and Washington and loses more $$ per passenger than any other Amtrak train. Problem is that it goes through West Virginia and God forbid that you have to tell Robert Byrd that railroad passenger service through HIS state must be cut for the good of the country.
Yes, its that kind of political nonsense that those who run Amtrak are up against. Doesn’t matter how competent the people who run the trains are as long as politicians are controlling the purse strings.

train111

Comment by train111 Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 3:04 pm
If it is federal money, sponsored by a Congressman, and being spent on state and local needs instead of federal needs, then it is “pork” no matter how it is otherwise characterized. The best thing that could happen to Illinois in the long run is to have the whole boondoggle collapse and go nowhere, and eventually force Illinois legislators to face up to their responsibilities and deal with the disastrous finances of this state. If Obama borrows billions from the Chinese and Arabs and sends part of the loot to Illinois, our “leaders” will cut and run just as they always have. There is nothing special about Tim Johnson- He is just behaving like every other member of the professional politician class.

Comment by Skirmisher Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 3:06 pm
hip-o-crits!

Comment by Anon Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 3:54 pm
Politics of pork:
SAVE - Senators Against Virtually Everything
NOTE - Not Over There Either

Comment by Huh? Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 5:13 pm
Rich “Um, Tim, maybe you should’ve voted “Yes,” or at least kept your mouth shut.”

Isn’t your logic sort of like ..we voted to cut off your arm, but since you voted no you don’t get the stiff shot to deaden the pain?

Johnson is just trying to make the best of a bad bill.

Comment by Ultra50k Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 5:50 pm
===Johnson is just trying to make the best of a bad bill.===

I disagree. He’s trying to have it both ways. He wants the spending in his district and also to say he opposed the bill. Politics and party come first.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 6:41 pm
he voted no cause his leadership told him to and now has to wieny around to try to cover his lack of backbone he is the worst kind of congressman we need now

Comment by anon again Thursday, Feb 5, 09 @ 7:06 pm