This article has been corrected from its original version.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is one of five Democratic governors seeking part of $1 trillion from Washington D.C. to help support infrastructure and energy advancement in the state.
The bill, titled The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, recently passed a Congressional committee and is moving on to the Senate at an unknown time, said Amanda Wurst, spokeswoman for Gov. Strickland.
The bill overlaps with some of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, which passed in the House of Representatives Wednesday.
Portions of the bill would go toward specific needs in the state. Two hundred fifty billion dollars would be disbursed over two years to help support essential social services such as education, health care and public safety.
The $250 billion would go specifically to unemployment insurance, food stamps and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, Wurst said.
Another $350 billion over two years would go to infrastructure investment such as transportation projects and advanced energy projects.
Athens would benefit from this money that would go toward transportation projects, said Andy Stone, the director of Athens City Street Department.
There are several projects lined up and appropriate funding could allow those to happen sooner than possible, Stone added.
Big projects
like the Richland Bridge project had funds lined up for two years Stone said. If we had additional money
there are several projects that I could turn around pretty quickly.
An additional $250 billion over two years will go to education, specifically pre-kindergarten through college education budgets, Wurst said.
Gov. Strickland thinks that it is a critical time to invest in our economy and that we need to fund resources to avoid cutting essential services
Wurst said.
Governors from Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey and Michigan also are supporting this bill.
We are very thankful that what the governors are putting forward is similar to President Obama's plans
Wurst said.
We hope it gets through Congress so that we can begin to make investments in Ohio.
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Sarah Beth Hensley
