Regional & Local Fiscal Relief Act

[Purple State]

The Office of the GM fully supports the premise and substance of this bill.

The needs of the regions are not up for debate. The condition of the Mideast is not just a regional problem, left to be dealt with by its Assembly and regional Senator. The situation is rapidly becoming a national economic catastrophe and is standing in the way of any broad national recovery from the current recession. Strong actions such as this are not only proper, but necessary and I urge the Senate to pass this bill quickly so as to limit confusion about allocation of funds from the recovery act.

[Purple State]

Alright, well, good to see you all don't mind going at it while I'm on holiday. I will have a report up in the morning on all of this if you can all stay with me for that long.

[Purple State]

GM Purple State has recommended how much money should be proportioned to each region. I urge my fellow Senators to follow the GM's advice on these numbers.

With that, the GM recommends the following apportionment of funds by region in descending order:
Mideast = $32 billion
This should be used to pay back short-term government obligations. The $32 billion will not be entirely sufficient and so there will be no residual funds.

Southeast = $24 billion
This should be used to close the budget deficit with all residual funds used to begin shovel-ready construction projects and other stimulative spending. Using the money for tax cuts or rebates would be a grave mistake.

Midwest = $22 billion
This should be used to close the budget deficit with all residual funds used to begin shovel-ready construction projects and other stimulative spending.

Pacific = $15 billion
This should be used entirely to fill the current budget deficit.

Northeast = $7 billion
This should be used to restart the financial and credit markets, as well as fund any short-term deficit spending incurred by the region to weather the current recession.

I accept the numbers but I disagree on some of the recommendations. I think the DS should be allowed to put some of the money in education/Research/Small Business as well as infrastructure. We could create a 470,000 jobs in small business by using just $8 billion of that $24 Billion and giving it out as an  2 $8500 tax credits(One per year) for every job created by a small business.

The jobs created by a small business tax credit would not be immediate and those businesses would more likely save the money in the current economic climate.

Placing some of the money into shovel-ready infrastructure jobs creates immediate jobs, provides income for those most likely to spend it quickly and helps the region in the long run.

[Purple State]

GM Purple State has recommended how much money should be proportioned to each region. I urge my fellow Senators to follow the GM's advice on these numbers.

With that, the GM recommends the following apportionment of funds by region in descending order:
Mideast = $32 billion
This should be used to pay back short-term government obligations. The $32 billion will not be entirely sufficient and so there will be no residual funds.

Southeast = $24 billion
This should be used to close the budget deficit with all residual funds used to begin shovel-ready construction projects and other stimulative spending. Using the money for tax cuts or rebates would be a grave mistake.

Midwest = $22 billion
This should be used to close the budget deficit with all residual funds used to begin shovel-ready construction projects and other stimulative spending.

Pacific = $15 billion
This should be used entirely to fill the current budget deficit.

Northeast = $7 billion
This should be used to restart the financial and credit markets, as well as fund any short-term deficit spending incurred by the region to weather the current recession.

I accept the numbers but I disagree on some of the recommendations. I think the DS should be allowed to put some of the money in education/Research/Small Business as well as infrastructure. We could create a 470,000 jobs in small business by using just $8 billion of that $24 Billion and giving it out as an  2 $8500 tax credits(One per year) for every job created by a small business.

The jobs created by a small business tax credit would not be immediate and those businesses would more likely save the money in the current economic climate.

Placing some of the money into shovel-ready infrastructure jobs creates immediate jobs, provides income for those most likely to spend it quickly and helps the region in the long run.

The businesses wouldn't get the money unless they hired someone. I am not dumb enough to just throw money somewhere and pray. I fully intend to place a good 33 to 40% of the money into infrastructure. And whatever is left into Education/Research. A good combination of Small Business, Infrastucture, and Education/Research is a combination for strong economic growth in my book.

Some should also go to the deficit. The reason the Southeast warrants more than the Midwest is predominantly its higher budget deficit.

And in that case I am in agreement. It seemed you were simply offering tax rebates to small businesses with no strings attached.

[Purple State]

Now, at what point do I say that the bottom has fallen out of the economy and we plummet into a sea of despair? Or do we let the beat roll on...

[Purple State]

Calling an immediate vote negates my purpose in objecting.  Abstain.

The numbers are based on analyses by the office of the GM. I am happy to explain them more fully to you, but I believe my report on the matter speaks for itself.

[Purple State]

*Ahem* Mistah President! You are holding up economic recovery.