Early evening digest: S-CHIP, TARP and stimulus package edition

Over at Liberal in the Land of Conservative, the MuseTube is back, Go over and throw some coin in his tip jar for this valuable service. Here's Congrssman Walz's floor statement from the debate on S-CHIP:

Over at the Sunlight Foundation, Paul Blumenthal reports on the Good TARP Transparency Amendment:

Rep. Tim Walz introduced an amendment to the second round of TARP - the economic recovery funds aka the bailout - that would require the Treasury Department to post online reports on how funds are being spent. Here’s part of a letter of support Walz is circulating around Capitol Hill:

H.R. 384 requires that institutions that received assistance under the TARP or that receive assistance in the future file at-least quarterly public reports on their use of the funds.

My amendment would require the Treasury Department to make those reports publicly available online, so that the public may have easy access to them.

Americans have the right to know how their money has been spent and what financial institutions have done with their bailout funds.  Yet the operations of the TARP have been insufficiently transparent and accountable.  While the public has spent an enormous amount of money providing assistance to financial institutions, we know far too little about what these institutions did with the money.

It boggles the mind that a requirement for the online posting of any document labeled a “public disclosure” would be left out of legislation in this day and age. How can one call a document “public” if it is only available to those who can physically thumb through files at the Treasury Department? These disclosures must be available online to ensure real transparency.

The House intends on voting on the Walz amendment this afternoon.

Blumenthal was premature in his prediction. So far as we can discern, the House adjourned for the day before taking up the amendment (#9 on the list of  amendments attached to the Rules committee resolution) and left the bill as unfinished business following the passage of the Murphy amendment (#7).

Walz spoke about the amendment--and his deep concern about the current lack of oversight in TARP--during his morning press call. Walz had voted against the bailout in the 110th Congress.

From one end of the district to the other, communities are hoping that programs in their areas receive a slice of the projected stimulus pie. The Worthington Globe editorial board opines in An area stimulus:

As President-elect Barack Obama and others in Washington consider how to utilize economic stimulus package money, we urge them to look at our fair corner of the country.

With the understanding that U.S. governors have been asked to prepare lists of ready-to-go projects for potential inclusion in the stimulus package, Worthington Mayor Alan Oberloh recently sent a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty requesting consideration of the Lewis & Clark Water Project. In the letter — a copy of which was provided to the Daily Globe — Oberloh writes that the “important project” will provide “critically needed water to over 300,000 people in the tri-state region” upon completion. Minnesota members of the project include the cities of Luverne and Worthington, Lincoln-Pipestone Rural Water System and and Rock County Rural Water.

Oberloh cites three primary reasons as to why the Lewis & Clark project is ideal for an economic stimulus package.

Project officials estimate up to 300 construction-related jobs could be created through summer 2009 work that would be made possible by economic stimulus dollars. Secondly, water provided to the 20 project members would encourage further addition and expansion of business and industry. Lastly, Lewis & Clark would not add a new financial commitment for the federal government, as Congress authorized the project in 2000 at a cost share that included 80 percent federal funding (“Accelerating funding through a stimulus package would help pay down the federal share of the project, thereby lessening the impact of inflation and ensuring that the federal cost share commitment is met.”).

At a time when hot-shot financial executives and auto companies with outdated business models are benefiting from bailout dollars, it seems more than appropriate that stimulus dollars bring economic benefits to rural America, too.

Heading east to Winona, we find the Daily News teasing in City compiles wish list for federal stimulus:

Winona city and county leaders are queuing up with local governments across Minnesota that want their infrastructure projects funded by a federal economic-stimulus proposal that’s being debated in Washington, D.C.

Local officials hope a Winona County office-building expansion and an extension of Louisa Street in Winona - proposals sidetracked in recent years by funding shortages - may find new life in the stimulus proposal, unveiled by House Democrats on Thursday. Winona-area leaders have contacted state officials, lobbyists and Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn., in the last month to promote the projects, and city leaders forwarded Walz a wish list of 16 infrastructure proposals totaling more than $23 million.

For more, see Friday’s Daily News.

You bet--we'll be there!  In the meantime, political reporter Mark Summerhauser has revived his blog and asks readers today Which is preferred route for high-speed trains: Winona or Rochester?

. . .Federal officials already have identified the freight-rail line that runs through Winona as a potential high-speed corridor, though it would require substantial upgrades to carry 110-mph trains. Supporters of the plan want to act fast to capitalize on President-elect Obama’s and the Democratic Congress’ apparent interest in major rail investment; they’ve talked about seeking money for an advanced study of the proposal as early as this year.

But Rochester advocates are seeking their own planning money through the Legislature, Heather Carlson of the Rochester Post-Bulletin reported Wednesday:

http://news.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=16&a=380127

WDN readers, how do you opine on the matter? Do the Rochester advocates have a point, or should the high-speed rail line follow the quick-and-easy path through Winona? Would you ride a high-speed train to St. Paul, Chicago or Milwaukee?

Head over to Sommerhauser's blog and take him up on his request: tell him what you think. Stay warm tonight!