A Three-Pronged Stimulus Test
Friday, February 6th, 2009 By Justin HigginsThe stimulus debate is still raging in the Senate, and most of the conflict comes from Senators arguing about which projects are a federal responsibility. From a Constitutional standpoint, the list of projects included in the bill that should be a federal priority is very small. I personally agree with one Ohio Senator in a three-pronged test for stimulus inclusion:
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), meanwhile, said that each provision in the stimulus should be examined along three lines: is it a federal responsibility, is it shovel-ready, and is it proper.
“What we’re trying to do is look at some metrics, and the metrics are: is this a federal responsibility, is it something that’s shovel-ready, are there items there that properly should have competition in the appropriations process,” Voinovich explained.
If the entire Senate judged each and every item in the bill with these metrics, we’d be looking at something that doesn’t even resemble the current stimulus package.
Tags: Stimulus plan
