Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant has staked his position on the stimulus package, and it is to support Gov. Haley Barbour.
And he’s making that position as strong as he can to defend, which means resorting to fear tactics to scare the voters of Mississippi who dare believe he might be wrong. But the Sun-Herald ain’t buying his bulll:
A Trojan Horse? Really?
Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant says he’ll back Gov. Haley Barbour if Barbour rejects $50 million due to Mississippi in the $787 billion federal stimulus bill. The money is a fraction of the $2.5 billion expected to flow to the state treasury and is for expanded unemployment checks.
The position of the two Republicans is that new qualifications to receive checks will be far more generous than existing law in Mississippi and, further, that once the federal money runs out, it will be up to the state’s employers to keep paying for a wider array of claims.
“I also want to make sure the stimulus package does not turn out to be a Trojan Horse that will unleash burdensome federal mandates on the hardworking taxpayers of Mississippi,” Bryant said in a prepared statement.
As noted in the Sun-Herald editorial, Bryant acts like he’s just discovered that the federal government makes laws that affect state policies.
On the House floor, the same type of AH-HA moment took place in an exchange between Rep. Tad Campbell, R-Meridian, and Rep. Joe Warren, D-Mount Olive.
According to a Bobby Harrison blog post, Campbell challenged Warren to name one other instance besides the stimulus package where federal law trumped state law.
Federal law overrules state law all the time. There are countless examples – huge examples that any amateur observer of Mississippi history should know.
Federal law superseded the state and gave African Americans the right to vote in the 1960s. In the 1980s federal officials stepped in and said the state Constitution and law that denied Northeast Mississippi 16th Section school land revenue that other parts of the state benefitted from was unconstitutional.
I could go on and on about where federal law trumped state law. And by the way it happens in all states – not just Mississippi.
I love that Republicans are turning this fight into both class warfare (i.e. not providing extra unemployment benefits) and an us vs. them ware between the state and federal government.
Next thing you know, Bryant and Barbour will be advocating succession of Mississippi and other Southern states until Washington can get it’s act together.
The truth is simple: Mississippi can accept the stimulus money with no problem. When it runs out, they can simply end that specific benefit.
The laws to accept the money can be changed with this consideration in mind, having an automatic repealer placed in the legislation. This would not be the first piece of legislation in which lawmakers have placed repealers.
If that doesn’t happen, Bryant better hope his political posturing is stronger than the suffering of the Mississippi people who were robbed of these benefits. Otherwise, he’ll be in retirement after a 2011 primary fight.
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