Joe Turnham: Helping jobless,  infrastructure, health care are key

Our nation and world is now engulfed in an economic calamity that is breaking the molds of historical prediction. Every sector from housing to manufacturing to retail to financial is raging like a brush fire with each negative event feeding upon the other.

It was time to restore hope through action. Congress and President Barack Obama took that action. With only three affirmative Republican votes, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed through the Congress. Money has already arrived in Alabama and is today assisting hurting Alabama families.

It is the height of hypocrisy for the party in charge of the White House for the last eight years and in charge of the Congress for the last six years to excoriate this legislation as a wasteful example of big government, all while denying their own role in running up $4.5 trillion in new debt, all while they were deregulating the financial market.

But here we are. What do we do now and how does the $3 billion of assistance to Alabama help us? First we need to address the fact that our own governor did not want the stimulus to pass and today refuses to accept some $66 million earmarked for laid-off workers in Alabama. While local workers get laid off and state budgets get gutted, Gov. Bob Riley has hired former Chief Justice Drayton Nabers and his law firm to “oversee” the expenditure of the stimulus. The governor must open the door for all to see.

While the vast majority of the funds of the stimulus for Alabama are earmarked, there is great discretion within agencies as to how the money will be spent. There should be full legislative collaboration on the expenditure of the stimulus and every county and city government as well as local agency should be fully included in directing these funds.

The block of funds in the stimulus is broken down this way: $541 million for state transportation; $850 million for healthcare; $198 million for special education; $38.5 million for child care for the working poor; $470 million for Pell Grants to Alabama college students; $107 million for local transportation and infrastructure.

Other funds will save the jobs of over 4,000 Alabama teachers and will create 52,000 new Alabama jobs. More than 1.7 million Alabama families will receive an immediate payroll tax credit. More than 262,000 college students will receive tuition tax credits. And more than 152,000 Alabama taxpayers will be protected from the Alternative Minimum Tax.

The pent up demand for infrastructure construction in our state is astounding. There are dozens of “shovel ready” projects locally that could be bid immediately. Several local bridges and road expansions in the Auburn-Opelika area are on the list. The Smiths Water Authority needs some $11 million in water and wastewater treatment capacity to serve demand fueled by the growth of Fort Benning.

Riley should immediately convene a bipartisan task force of stakeholders and legislative leaders and spend funds in this priority: 1) assist the laid-off worker with income and job placement/training; 2) fund road/bridge/infrastructure projects in areas with the highest unemployment rates first and then move to where the added infrastructure will most quickly create new jobs; 3) use Medicaid funds to prevent the closure of any rural hospital; 4) save every classroom teacher from layoff; 5) provide for mobile, intercessory healthcare screening and local treatments.

Most especially, no contractor or vendor should be given a state contract unless they agree to hire Alabama workers first and use local, in-state supply chains whenever possible. This stimulus must help prime the pump of Alabama families and businesses that need help most in this tough time.

Joe Turnham lives in Auburn and is chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.