Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

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Governor keeping mum on jobs bill that can help state

Day 1 - 2011 Legislative Session

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Gov. Brian Sandoval waits to greet a delegation from the Senate to inform him that the Senate is organized and ready for business during the first day of the 2011 legislative session Feb. 7, 2011, in Carson City.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Sun Coverage

President Barack Obama’s recently proposed jobs bill puts Gov. Brian Sandoval in a bit of a pickle.

The $447 billion package, which has been likened to a mini-stimulus, includes significant funding for cash-strapped states; much of it is targeted for Nevada’s economic trouble spots: unemployment benefits, construction jobs and education funding.

But Sandoval, a darling of the national Republicans who is expected to dabble in presidential politics this cycle, has generally supported the GOP line of creating jobs through deregulation, not spending.

Perhaps that’s why Sandoval has taken his typically careful path of declining to voice an opinion on the bill that has yet to make an appearance in Congress.

Sandoval wasn’t available to comment, but senior adviser Dale Erquiaga said the administration continues to analyze the many provisions in the bill.

“This is a federal issue and the governor doesn’t have a vote in Congress,” Erquiaga said. “This is a first proposal. It will be changed any number of times. We will track the legislation and may eventually give our opinion to Nevada’s elected representatives.”

The response mirrors the generally muted response Republicans have given to Obama’s jobs proposal. So far, they’ve neither embraced it nor subjected it to the blistering rhetoric that has marked other recent debates over spending.

Sandoval hasn’t shied away from national Republican politics. He is often touted as potential running-mate material — a job he has repeatedly stressed he would not take if offered. This month he endorsed Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry.

Perry hasn’t shied away from criticizing Obama’s performance on the economy, making it a central tenet in his campaign for president. But he, too, hasn’t really taken aim at the jobs proposal, other than saying it’s “guided by (Obama’s) mistaken belief that we can spend our way to prosperity.”

Setting aside the philosophical debate over whether federal spending is a good or bad thing for job creation, Obama’s proposal would mean significant funds for Nevada.

According to a fact sheet put out by the White House, Nevada could see:

• $258 million to pay for teachers and emergency responders, jobs that have been put at risk by budget shortfalls at the state and local levels.

• $168 million to refurbish old schools and $251 million in infrastructure funding, which could be a significant boost to Nevada’s decimated construction industry.

• Funding to continue emergency unemployment benefits being collected by 44,000 Nevadans who will lose their unemployment checks if Congress doesn’t extend the program.

Erquiaga didn’t dispute that the funding could be an important safety net for the state, which has struggled to fund education, infrastructure projects and other services since the recession began.

But he added some federal spending programs come with strings attached, often requiring the state to continue the spending even when the federal dollars disappear. “That’s a challenge for us and the reason we will have to follow them very closely,” Erquiaga said.

Still, even some members of Sandoval’s administration are saying some elements of the jobs bill could be crucial for Nevada’s economy.

Cindy Jones, state employment security administrator, said the extension of the emergency unemployment benefits would keep checks flowing to out-of-work Nevadans.

“It would be a major shift in the amount of money going out each week to our unemployed workers individually and collectively to the economy,” Jones said. “Studies show between $1.85 and $2.15 is generated in the economy for every dollar paid out in unemployment benefits. It’s an economic stimulus program and that’s been its intent from the beginning.”

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