Republicans learning to love the stimulus

by Mark Silva

Even in defeat, it seems, there is victory.

Even that $787-billion economic stimulus that all the House's Republicans opposed has its rosy side. "The timing couldn't be better,'' one Florida Republican crows about a high-speed rail project that will benefit from the bill.

Rep. Don Young, the Republican, at-large congressman for all of Alaska who joined every other Republican in the House in opposing President Barack Obama's economic stimulus, is touting the "victory'' he won for the Alaska Native contracting program and other small businesses in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Senate version "included a provision that appeared to prohibit the use of programs administered by the SBA that are designed for procurement through minority-owned business enterprises,'' Young reports in a press release. He "worked with members on the other side of the aisle to make the case for these programs, and was able to get the provision pulled from the bill.

"I was approached by members of the Alaskan Federation of Native with concerns about this provision," Young reports. "I told them that no matter if I supported this bill or not, I would make sure they were not hurt by it.''

And it may be inevitable that some of those who voted against the biggest federal spending spree in modern-times will go home and brag about the benefits of the bill.

"Funding for transit projects in the stimulus package could accelerate the Central Florida Commuter Rail project,'' Florida Republican Rep. John Mica reports in a press release from his office.

"The total appropriation for transit systems includes $750 million for the New Starts program," Mica said. "Nationally, the Central Florida Commuter Rail project is next in line for final approval and federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration. ...The timing couldn't be better.''

Every Republican member of the House voted against the $787-billion stimulus that President Barack Obama pushed through Congress, yet some of those Republicans have learned to love some of its provisions:

With credit to the folks at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who collected some of the comments, and with a look of our own at some of the congressional Web-sites, here's more on some of the hometown messages that Republicans are delivering in their districts in the aftermath of their unanimous stand against the bill:

Officials are hoping more federal money will soon be flowing to the Green Brook Flood Control Project, they report at mycentraljersey.com. Under the terms of the stimulus plan signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama, infrastructure projects that are "shovel-ready" could be the first to be funded with economic recovery money. That's the hope of Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton Township). "This is a classic example of a 'shovel-ready' project,' Lance said after a tour.

"I figure my job is to try and do whatever I can to clear the hurdles and get the projects going and the people back to work using these funds,'' the hometown Mail Tribune quotes Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) as saying.

Rep. Blaine Leutkemeyer (R-Mo.), looking at a "shovel ready'' project back home, says that's what the economy needs, KTVO-TV reports.

"Alaskan Congressman Don Young won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,'' Young's own press release states.

"All of us in the Inland Empire will do what we can to direct as much money as we can,'' Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Ca.) tells the Press Enterprise back home.

And Florida Republican Rep. John Mica, a longtime advocate of high-speed rail, doesn't seem to find the same flaws in that multibillion-dollar Las Vegas-L.A. rail project in the stimulus bill that other Republicans have ridiculed. "I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future,'' the congressman says in his own press release.