Oct 29, 2008 7:24 pm US/Eastern
Paterson Finds Opposition In Plea For Fed. Funding
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
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It started with Gov. David Paterson asking the feds to help bail New York and other states out of the fiscal crisis, but it was a confrontation with a fellow governor that grabbed most of the attention. (File)
AP
It started with Gov. David Paterson asking the feds to help bail New York and other states out of the fiscal crisis, but it was a confrontation with a fellow governor that grabbed most of the attention.
Paterson, a Democrat, and Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina duked it out Wednesday at a congressional hearing on whether the feds should help states deal with their crushing fiscal woes with a new economic stimulus package.
"I'm not here to beg, I'm here to say that New York doesn't need a handout. We need a hand-back," Paterson told Congress.
But Paterson's argument that the federal government "owes" New York help because last year it sent Washington nearly $87 billion more than it got back didn't wash with Sanford.
"I am here to respectfully beg of this committee not to approve a $150 billion stimulus package," he retorted.
"We need the same resources that we have distributed to our national economy to bail that economy out many times to help other states get back far more than they pay in taxes," said Paterson.
"Many people complain about the fiscal irresponsibility of the federal government, in fact the only group that has been more fiscally irresponsible in fact has been the states," Sanford said in his argument.
Paterson and Sanford offered heady arguments featuring quotes from noted economists and the novelist Ayn Rand. But another local witness went lowbrow to make his case.
"In the words of the great poet John Lennon of The Beatles, I say help, I need somebody, not just anybody," said Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer.
In contrast to the intense debate at Congressman Charles Rangel's Ways & Means Committee, there was bipartisan support at the House Transportation Committee for tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure projects to juice the economy.
"Wall Street needed some kind of stabilization action. We need stabilization at the local level," said N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine.
Congress is expected to come back the week after next for a two-week lame duck session where the new stimulus package will be taken up.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said new money for the states is important because it could help prevent state and local tax hikes.
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