This article, "States and Cities in Scramble for Stimulus Cash", was written by Monica Davey for The New York Times. Ms. Davey wrote this article to inform people of the many strings attached to the new stimulus plan, and how the state and local governments are handling it. She is also stating why there is such a rush to get as much of the stimulus money as possible. This article is written to inform the general public who may not know the minute details of the stimulus bill and what decisions the state and local governments are having to make to get what they deem as their fair share of the package.
What Ms. Davey is basically trying to get across is the amount of political pressure being put on state and local governments to gain as much from this stimulus bill as possible for their state and local communities. Many of the states are having to modify their budgets to help them qualify for more of the money because if they are forced to pass up any of the money it will be distributed to others states that are deemed to need it more. She is also trying to push the point that alot of this money is still going to be distributed by the Federal government with many conditions applied toward how it is used. The article also points out that some state leaders believe that this bill is wasteful and claim they are going to avoid taking any of the money at all, in the belief that they are saving the taxpayers billions of dollars in money to be paid back. In all, this article is very informative as to the situation that this bill has put the state and local governments in and helps the general public understand the vast scale and things at stake with the distribution of this massive stimulus package.
David Duryee
