Stimulating debate in the Louisiana’s Senate race

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Last year’s stimulus package is a hot issue in this year’s Louisiana Senate race.


Republicans, including incumbent Sen. David Vitter, call it an expensive boondoggle, and marked the passage of its one-year anniversary this week by castigating Vitter’s Democratic challenger, Rep. Charlie Melancon, for voting for it in the House. They note a rising Louisiana unemployment rate – 7.5 percent for December, up from 5.9 percent a year earlier.

Democrats say Vitter’s position amounts to opposition to a host of stimulus-funded projects and tax cuts in the bill. They put out a series of news releases Thursday and Friday, timed to coincide with Vitter’s public appearances in different parts of the state. Each release lists Louisiana projects funded through the stimulus package – for example, $124,000 in law enforcement funding in Rapides Parish, $110,000 in roof repairs at the Lake Charles National Guard facility.


“While David Vitter sought political gain in the face of an economic crisis, Charlie Melancon supported a bill that included the largest middle class tax cut in history, created thousands of jobs in Louisiana, and provided millions for local schools, law enforcement, and roads,” Melancon’s campaign spokesman, Jeff Giertz, said in an e-mailed statement touting more money for education, law enforcement and the military.


Vitter spokesman Joel DiGrado said Vitter has been consistent in his opposition to the entire stimulus bill – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – from the beginning, and has not been among Republicans who have taken credit for stimulus projects after opposing the bill.

In an interview, Vitter said the $800 billion-plus plan will cost more than a trillion dollars when interest is added.

“I am sure there are some valid, worthwhile things in the bill, including for Louisiana, but I think it was really bad policy to pass a trillion dollar bill – a trillion dollars of new debt,” he said.

Vitter said elimination of various federal roadblocks to development of domestic oil, gas and nuclear energy – elements of a Republican-backed “No-cost stimulus bill – would be a better route.”

Estimates of the amount of money the state is receiving from the stimulus bill are on a federal Web site: www.recovery.gov.

It says the stimulus bill includes about $2.5 billion in spending for Louisiana, of which $835 million has been received in the state, with recipients reporting the money going to fund more than 11,000 Louisiana jobs. However, recipient job counts that the site reports are based on estimates of jobs that might have been affected by the stimulus money, but not necessarily were saved or created by the stimulus. Critics of the stimulus also note that early job estimates last year were inflated by bad data.