Schumer: Package may help county
By KERRY McAVOY, The Leader-HeraldArticle Photos
FONDA - U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer told Montgomery County officials Tuesday the county likely will benefit from President-elect Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus package in the form of new infrastructure, tax cuts and relief from the crushing cost of Medicaid.
Schumer, D-N.Y., was in the county Tuesday to speak with members of the Board of Supervisors, Amsterdam Mayor Ann Thane, Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, Congressman-elect Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and area business leaders about the possibility of getting a piece of the legislation.
Schumer said the package would give money to local governments to pay for improvements to infrastructure that are too expensive for them to do on their own or that needed long-term funding. Local municipalities were told to begin coming up with plans for infrastructure improvements, which could receive federal funding.
Leaders need to have their plans ready to be a part of the package that is set to go to the desk of President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20, the day he takes his oath of office.
The money could be used for road improvements, water system upgrades, sewer replacements and updates to electrical systems. An amount was not given for this plan.
Thane said the city already has plans for new water and sewer systems that could be submitted.
Schumer also brought news of relief for state and local governments from the crushing costs of Medicaid. He said as part of the economic stimulus package, money would being going toward reducing the Medicaid cost burden.
He said New York state has the highest Medicaid cost of any state, even though New York's percentage of people in the system is lower than California's.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Vito Greco said Medicaid costs take between 40 percent and 50 percent of the county's annual budget, making it about $40 million of the just-passed 2009 operating budget.
Greco also expressed concern about the possibility that some of the money meant for local municipalities will be taken by the state.
Schumer said the federal government will be setting up this money so the state share goes to the state and the local share goes directly to the local municipality.
"Those two things would be a major shot in the arm," Schumer said.
Middle-class tax cuts also are part of the plan. The idea is to infuse cash back into the economy by encouraging people to spend money by giving them more. People making less than $200,000, who Schumer said are about 98 percent of people in Montgomery County, will be a part of this cut.
He said it will be similar to an earlier tax cut initiated by the Bush administration.
"Alone it doesn't work, you have to create jobs," he said.
Schumer said this economic stimulus package is needed because as history has shown, leaving the economy alone will likely lead to a total collapse.
The economy could turn toward deflation, which would lead to prices dropping dramatically and businesses going under.
"No one has seen the economy decline this much since ... the Great Depression," Schumer said.
Schumer said he was not happy with part of the $700 billion bailout package passed Oct. 3. He said the problem was that there was no stipulation that banks receiving bailout funds lend to people, businesses and students to keep the economy going.
He said once banks stopped lending, the problems got worse. People couldn't get home loans, so the real estate market continued to decline. People can't get car loans, so the auto industry hit a decline, he said.
"They froze the car loans, so unless you have the best credit, you can't get a loan," Schumer said.
Amsterdam 2nd Ward Supervisor Barbara Johnson quizzed Schumer on his thoughts about the auto industry bailout.
Schumer was a part of the hearings on giving "the big three" - Ford, General Motors and Chrysler - a piece of the $700 billion bailout package. He said he was amazed that the three heads came to the meeting with no plans for what they will do with the money or how they will restructure their companies to keep from coming back in six months looking for another handout.
"What do we tell our kids? They're the ones paying this bill after we're long gone," said Root Supervisor John Thayer.
Schumer said the country needs to return to values of people saving more than they borrow, having more exports than imports, and consuming no more than we produce. He said for many years the country has been doing the opposite, and the effects of these actions are starting to show with this recession.
"We have to pump up the economy now. We have to learn from our mistakes," Schumer said.
He said the government must also spend moderately to create a surplus and pay off these debts.
"We've been on a 20-year happiness party," Schumer said.
Kerry McAvoy covers Montgomery County. She can be reached at montco@leaderherald.com.
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TheArchitect
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11-26-08 9:53 PM
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Senator Schumer, "a package may help county". Then again, it may not. We know it will increase our taxes & allow Washington to have control of more of our money. While there is a possibility for short term gains, it will come at a high cost to taxpayers. There just is no way to spend ourselves out of our financial crisis. The US dollar is not secured by anything. Our country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse. We must understand that with a population of approx. 250 million, the $11 trillion national debt represents a staggering $44,000 per citizen. This is not the cost of government operations, but solely the U.S. debt service & it’s increasing daily. This is not something that can be solved by more spending. The government has to sharply cut spending now & reduce the staggering burden plac
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nymomma
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11-26-08 8:43 PM
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After the money comes from us for this its not a guarantee it will happen. Notice he stated LIKELY will benefit. He stated to get your package together and get it to Obama on the 20th when he takes office. Still no guarantee anyone will benefit from it, because Obama probably wont care.
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Discobulous
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11-26-08 2:02 PM
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Why from you and me, of course. And nobody even asked us.
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ipaymyway
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11-26-08 12:31 PM
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one question? where is the money going to come from for all these gimmies? well taxes of course. between the banks and the auto industry i dont really think there is going to much left.
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