Cooper, Blackburn vote against Obama’s stimulus package

Nashville U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper is one of just 11 Democrats who voted against new President Obama’s proposed economic stimulus plan, which passed Wednesday in a definitive 385-to-35 vote.

“I think everybody knows I’m for Barack. Everybody knows I’ve been reforming Congress. I think this is a very consistent vote,” Cooper told The City Paper Wednesday. “I’m disappointed we weren’t able to persuade enough others to give the bill another editing.”

Cooper is part of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog coalition, and has publicly voiced concerns about the package prior to the vote. Other Tennessee Blue Dogs voted in favor of the package, including Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro; Lincoln Davis, D-Pall Mall; and Rep. John Tanner, D-Union City.

The package, Cooper said, relies on borrowed money. He raised questions about the lack of a plan for paying the sizeable annual interest expenses he believes will be associated with it.

Referring to the bill as a “pork festival,” Cooper blamed members of Congress — and particularly the members of committees of jurisdiction — for transforming Obama’s original proposal into a bill Cooper could not support.

“I love Obama, but I’m disappointed with Congress for its business-as-usual attitude. The bill is loaded with pork. Half of it had nothing to do with stimulus. Only 5 percent has to do with the infrastructure projects that most people in the public think is in the bill. It was the largest bill in American history, by far, and one of the most wasteful,” Cooper said. “It’s likely it will only get worse when it goes to the Senate.”

All House Republicans from Tennessee cast votes in opposition to the plan, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Brentwood).

Blackburn on Wednesday called the program a “spending bill,” rather than stimulus. Big portions of the bill should have been considered through regular order, she said, including $3 billion for prevention and wellness, immunizations and grants, as well as $600 million for the federal government to buy “plug-in cars.” Only 10 percent of the bill would be spent this year, she said, with the rest to be spent between 2009 and 2019.

“A stimulus is to be short-term. It is to be focused. It is to be precision spending, and immediate,” Blackburn said Wednesday. “I think there was bipartisan opposition to this plan because it is a bad plan.”

Bill includes cash infusion for school districts including Metro

The package as it stands now could give a healthy, temporary bump to federal funding received by Metro Nashville Public Schools. Estimates from the Congressional Research Service suggests that Nashville’s public school district would receive a $76 million infusion of federal dollars over the next two years.

This figure is strictly an estimate, and there is still plenty of room for the stimulus package to be changed. The Senate will soon consider the bill, then the House will vote on it again.

Dollars provided through the package are provided exclusively for construction and modernization of schools; Title I funds for students and schools meeting federal low-income guidelines; and money for students covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Neither Cooper nor Blackburn was swayed by the public education dollars the bill stands to provide. Blackburn said most of the funds would to toward “greening” of school buildings, rather than for safety, student health, and education programs.

Cooper, for his part, said he could see the construction allocations creating jobs, and that he would love to “play Santa Claus” and approve a $76 million check for Metro schools. That doesn’t mean Congress should be spending borrowed money in order to do so, he said.

“[The education allocations] tempt a lot of people back home to want a federal solution to everything. If we had the money, we’d be glad to share it, but we’re borrowing this from China,” Cooper said. “I would love to be able to write a check for $76 million for Nashville schools. But do you want a federal takeover of the schools? Most federal money comes with strings attached, if not immediately then eventually.”

Amanda Maynord Anderson, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education, said prior to Wednesday’s vote that the Congressional Research Services estimates are the first she has seen indicating how individual school districts stand to be affected. Officials at the state DOE still do not know how much will be received by Tennessee schools.

“We’re just preparing for an onslaught of dollars to come in,” Anderson said. “We’re just going to wait and see how this shakes out.”

Nashville Board of Education Chair David Fox said Wednesday afternoon, prior to the vote, that he has seen the estimates and is confident the district could put additional funds to “productive use.” But it is not entirely clear, he said, how the Title I dollars specifically would be applied.

The stimulus package would provide a temporary, two-year increase in federal funds, meaning that most of the money would probably not be used for staffing increases — after all, paying for employees represents an ongoing commitment. School districts like MNPS are not permitted to use federal funds to replace local allocations.

“It’s easier for me to understand how construction funds would work in our budget. They’re one-time expenses,” Fox said. “If additional funds are made available, I expect we could put them to productive use.”

A $76 million increase for MNPS would represent a sizeable cash infusion. For the current school year, MNPS received about $67 million total for all federal programs and grants, according to information from the 2008-2009 budget.