Tennessee House Democratic lawmakers say that if other lawmakers want the state to reject federal stimulus dollars, their districts shouldn’t receive any of the money.
State Rep. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, proposed last week that Gov. Phil Bredesen shouldn’t take Tennessee’s estimated $4 billion cut from the $787 billion stimulus package recently signed by President Obama.Bredesen, at a recent event in Kingsport, said state government needed the stimulus to avoid as many as 2,300 job cuts.
At an appreciation event for former state Rep. Nathan Vaughn of Kingsport on Saturday, state Rep. John Litz said he’ll file a resolution welcoming those stimulus dollars to Tennessee.
“(The resolution) will also say if any legislator doesn’t want it or votes against that, their district is not eligible for it,” said Litz, D-Morristown. “I have people in my district who are out of work. Morristown has primarily been a large furniture industry, and we’ve lost all those jobs to China and Mexico. We’ve got to have some help. And this is the only help I see coming for a while.”
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