Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels Accounts For His State's Stimulus Spending
Monday, May 25, 2009DARREN GERSH: So far, we've heard from the Obama administration about the status of the recovery program and economists have weighed in with their expectations. Now, we turn to progress at the state level. That's where most of the stimulus money is actually being put to work. I recently spoke with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and I began by asking him what his state is doing with its stimulus funds.
GOV. MITCH DANIELS, (R) INDIANA: Well, we're trying to use it as intended and as effectively as possible. We're building roads. We're restoring habitats. We're building trails, weatherizing homes. And we're avoiding tax increases, which may be the most important thing of all.
GERSH: Now, I understood that when you got the money you were hoping that you would use it for some big projects that would set Indiana apart. What's the status there?
DANIELS: I think we're making the sort of start we wanted to. We were found, by someone, to be the fastest state in putting highway funds to work. We have 100 projects, over a quarter of a billion dollars already committed, a lot of work happening right now. Incidentally, this is on top of what was already a record road building program that we had embarked on in our state. Then we got over a thousand young people in what we call the Hoosier Youth Conservation Corp., as I said, repairing parks, building trails and restoring wildlife habitats all over Indiana.
GERSH: Is the money actually in the checking account? I mean, is it ready to be sent out? Are you starting to send out checks in large numbers to real businesses and get the employees on the job?
DANIELS: That's certainly true in the case of infrastructure. It's certainly true in the case of these young people who were all on the unemployment list before we offered them these healthy outdoor jobs. They're all being paid right now. So yes, the money will come in installments and when you deal with the Federal government, there's always a degree of delay and uncertainty. But, yeah, some it is flowing.
GERSH: How many jobs do you think you'll create in Indiana?
DANIELS: There's no way in the world to know that. Anybody who tells you otherwise is kidding either themselves or you. But let's just agree that the economy was in a very difficult situation and I for one felt it was worth the effort, appropriate for the president and the Congress to try something here. This isn't the bill I personally would have written. There's a lot in there that won't stimulate anything, but if you think back to the time they were writing it, it was a, I believe, well intentioned. Here in Indiana, we'll do our best to see that it's very well spent and spent on things that do lead to jobs.
GERSH: Well, some of your Republican colleagues, other governors were concerned about the stimulus and even thought about turning it down. Do you think in hindsight that they were just mistaken?
DANIELS: I didn't criticize the bill and I won't criticize those who did. No two states are in the same circumstance, so I'm just going to leave at the fact that to us, this is a fact of life. And here in Indiana, we're going to employ it, we hope, faithfully and we hope effectively and prudently.
GERSH: One of the most controversial things in the bill was the extension of unemployment benefits to people who hadn't gotten them before and expanding unemployment benefits. What are you doing in Indiana, with that money? And are you expanding your unemployment insurance net?
DANIELS: We accepted all the basic unemployment assistance that was in there and we acted in a way that did extend further, for Indiana workers by many weeks, the benefits they were already due to receive. Now there is one very explicitly optional part of the stimulus program that invites states to change for all time their unemployment systems. We're probably not going to take that particular option because it's just a bad business deal. It amounts to accepting $100 this year and next and in return promising to spend $125 every year forever. Bad deal for us. We've already got a system that's very generous and really more than we can afford already.
GERSH: All right, well, Governor Daniels, we'll leave it at that. Thank you for your time. DANIELS: Thank you very much.
GERSH: And that was Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
