Package includes money for jobs

The stimulus package signed into law last week by Presi-dent Obama could help to create or retain around 7,000 jobs in Con-gressional District 3, which contains the Tri-parish area, said Robin Winchell, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-Napoleonville).

Melancon voted in favor of the stimulus package.

The jobs number is an estimate by the White House. Winchell was not certain how the figure was derived.

The stimulus package – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – is sending $4 billion to Louisiana, though Gov. Bobby Jindal has said the state may refuse some of the money.

The state could be facing a budget deficit this year of between $1 and $2 billion.

The stimulus funding includes $538 million for infrastructure projects in Louisiana, with $430 million targeted at roads and bridges.

“It’s an infusion of infrastructure money,” Winchell said. “They will need workers. Those producing goods for the projects will need workers. It’s a ripple effect.”

In a news release, Melancon stated that the stimulus package contains a tax cut of up to $800 each for 1.7 million workers in the state, and tax relief for business.

The package also has a higher education tax credit and provisions for computerizing medical records, Melancon indicated in the news release.

Winchell said, “It’s an opportunity to jump-start the economy.”

The congressman only supported the stimulus package because the funding is a temporary, one-time infusion of money that is targeted, she said.

Melancon is co-chair for communications of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of Democratic Party congressmen advocating fiscally conservative positions.

“We need to get back to reality, finding ways to pay for things,” Melancon said at a Bayou Industrial Group meeting in Thibodaux in December.

State government will determine where much of the stimulus funding will be spent.

“There are no earmarks,” Winchell said. “It’s hard to say. It’s not an appropriations bill.”

The stimulus does not contain any provisions to build levees, but the package has $4.5 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“Traditionally, there are so many projects in Louisiana,” Winchell said, “but the corps will have to decide.”

Melancon will continue to push for federal funding of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane levee protection system, she said.

“Any time the corps has more funding, it can do more…The more the corps has, money will trickle down to Louisiana,” she said.

Melancon was part of a congressional delegation last week attending meetings of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Belgium, and other international organizations in Europe.

Winchell said U.S. Rep. John Tanner of Tennessee, president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, wanted Melancon to attend in particular because of his experience with the Blue Dogs. Discussions were conducted on the international economic crisis.

Package includes money for jobs