Stimulus payments went to qualified Georgians

www.romenews-tribune.com

by Walter C. Jones

ATLANTA — The federal stimulus package didn’t go entirely to Wall Street banks, car makers and shovel-ready construction projects, according to a report released Wednesday that shows $2.5 billion went directly to needy Georgians.

The funds came during just nine months from existing programs that were enhanced in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Extended unemployment insurance benefits, increased food stamps, and a one-time payment of $250 to retirees, veterans and the disabled tallied $1.5 billion, while the Make Work Pay earned-income tax credits accounted for $1 billion.

According to the report by the Atlanta-based think tank The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, the payments from the seven programs boosted 250,000 Georgians above the federal poverty level of about $25,000 for a family of four.

The reach across the state was broad. More than 1.3 million Georgians received the $250 payment, 150,000 got the enhanced unemployment checks, and roughly 500,000 children triggered a tax credit for their families, the authors estimate.

“These Recovery Act dollars are doing double duty,” said Claire Richie, one of the report’s authors. “Not only are they keeping an estimated 250,000 Georgians out of poverty, but they are also spent quickly and close to home, boosting local businesses and helping them avoid laying off workers.”

The authors call for extending some benefits further as extra fuel for the economy.

But some Georgia Republican congressmen who voted against the Recovery Act say these numbers don’t change their minds.

“The ?stimulus’ is unequivocally a bad policy,” said Rep. Jack Kingston. “By definition, a stimulus should create jobs but we’ve seen unemployment increase from 7.7 to 10 percent since the bill passed. Rather than create jobs, it has expanded government and increased our national debt.”

Rep. Paul Broun’s spokesman Bryan Partridge said a better approach would be reducing corporate and investment taxes, as in his Jumpstarting Our Business Sector Act.

“Though a variety of arguments with different views will continue to be released, these facts remain: the stimulus has not saved millions of American jobs as the president promised,” he said.

CHART

The federal stimulus package resulted in direct payments to veterans, retirees and some needy Georgians. Among the benefits were an added $25 per week in unemployment payments plus a seven-week extension, a one-time $250 payout to retirees and veterans, and an a temporary boost in food stamps.

• County Unemployment Food Stamps $250 payment Total
  
  
• Burke $567,470 $994,730, $1.1 million, $2.7 million
  
  
• Chatham 5.1 million, 5.5 million, 10.4 million 21 million
  
  
• Clarke 2.1 million, 2.5 million, 3.6 million, 8.2 million
  
  
• Columbia 1.9 million, 1.1 million, 3.9 million, 6.9 million
  
  
• Coweta 2.7 million, 2.2 million, 4.2 million, 9.2 million
  
  
• Effingham 1 million, 801,154, 1.7 million, 3.5 million
  
  
• Fayette 2 million, 811,925, 4 million, 6.8 million
  
  
• Floyd 2.5 million, 2.4 million, 5 million, 9.9 million
  
  
• Glynn 1.6 million, 1.7 million, 3.8 million, 7 million
  
  
• McDuffie 606,077, 399,839, 610,000, 1.6 million
  
  
• Oconee 528,398, 236,805, 1.1 million, 1.9 million

• Richmond 4.3 million, 7.1 million, 9 million, 20.4 million