A statement I made in support of my Senate Resoluton 6, asking Congress to tie the federal stimulus package to the unemployment rate, which would have sent Michigan additional federal funding.
Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of Senate Resolution 6 which I have sponsored and which calls on our Congressional delegation to work to insure that our state gets its fair share of the federal stimulus package by tying its distribution to each state's unemployment rate.
It is important to do this on behalf of the citizens of Michigan, who have suffered the brunt of the current economic crisis, to make sure they are afforded the relief due to them, and to insure that the stimulus package is actually effective in its goal to turn our country's economy around.
You will recall colleagues, that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Federal relief efforts were concentrated in the states most affected by the hurricane's devastation, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Our congressional delegation should insist that the economic relief package now being crafted likewise target states most affected by the current economic hurricane.
By any measure, Michigan is one of the most severely damaged states. We lead the nation in unemployment, we have one of the nation's highest mortgage foreclosure rates, and we have lost more jobs than any state this decade.
With only 3.3 percent of the nation's population, Michigan's job losses this decade could account for as much as 20 percent of the jobs lost nationally. Nearly one fifth of the jobs lost in America will have been lost here.
Unfortunately, the federal stimulus package as passed by the US House of Representatives is blind to the particulars of Michigan's situation. Of the ten tax reductions and twenty nine spending programs proposed by congress, only one is indexed to the unemployment rate of the recipient states.
The net result is that if the stimulus package is left unchanged, Michigan will receive roughly a per capita share. If the package was tied to an economic index, such as the unemployment rate however, Michigan would instead receive approximately one fifth of the dollars allocated. This would more accurately reflect the degree of economic devastation our citizens have experienced.
The failure of the stimulus package to target states, such as Michigan that have been most affected by the economic downturn, predicts its likely failure to fix our economy.
Imagine the ineffectiveness of the Katrina relief effort, had it been spread evenly throughout country. We would have received levee repairs and FEMA trailers here in Michigan, while the people of Louisiana would have gone wanting.
There is still time to fix the stimulus package, so that it can help repair Michigan's broken economy. Please join me in calling on our US Senators and Representatives to make sure that the federal efforts are not wasted, but rather they are focused here at the eye of the storm.