From the April 4 edition of Seattletimes, governors in some states are rejecting payments from the stimulus program.  And some states who originally rejected the stimulus payments are now backing down and accepting portions of the federal aid.


South Carolina Gov Mark Sanford backed down Friday from his standoff with the White House over stimulus funding, becoming the last governor in the nation to officially say his state will accept economic recovery aid…

Despite his reversal, Sanford said he will not draw from a $700 million portion of the stimulus for education and law enforcement unless he reaches a deal with South Carolina’s Republican controlled Legislature to help pay off some of the state government’s debt…

Twice, the Obama administration rejected Sanford’s bid to repay debt, saying the money must be spent on public safety and schools…

Other states that rejected, or at least initially rejected some of the federal stimulus aid were Mississippi, Alaska, Louisiana, and Texas.  While it’s certain that most of this rejection was just political pandering, it’s nice to know that some governor’s are at least half heartedly thinking on the lines of fiscal responsibility.  These same federal stimulus rejection states certainly had not adhered to fiscal responsibility over the last few decades as they were running up their debts!

Links to state government debt information for those rejecting stimulus on the grounds of “responsibility”:

Please share any other links of state debt information via comments.

Also see: