Obama stimulus packages could help UA, colleges across nation
James Baker
Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: News
"I'm very committed to making sure that we get it scrubbed clean of many of these programs," Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said on CNN.
"What we would like to do is try to amend the bill so that it would be something we will support," Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, said on CNBC.
The stimulus package could help higher education. A proposal to include colleges and universities in the stimulus package was signed by more than 40 higher education leaders including UA System President B. Alan Sugg.
An open letter published in The New York Times and The Washington Post Dec. 16 asked for 5 percent of the economic stimulus to be set aside for higher education facilities.
New UA projects set to begin with proper funding include renovations to aging facilities, new classrooms and research facilities.
With the exact details of the plan, including state help, still a mystery going into Friday, states like Arkansas anxiously await the final plan as Democrats hope to get the legislation on the president's desk by the end of next week.
President Obama has buttered and battled for the American Recovery and Reinvestment plan since before the Senate began voting Tuesday. The president hosted a bipartisan Super Bowl Sunday party, and even carried around a tray of freshly baked cookies for guests.
In an effort to get things rolling faster and more smoothly, the President appeared on five major networks Tuesday, including ABC, CNN and Fox News, but questions over the tax woes of administration nominees dogged the main goal of the media blitzkrieg.
One House Republican, despite President Obama's surprise visit to the House chambers for a long sit down for questions, did not support the $819 billion version of the stimulus bill passed in the House.
President Obama also responded to public outrage over the $18 billion in Wall Street bonuses last year by announcing a salary cap of $500,000 Wednesday for the top executives of the companies receiving the largest servings of the $700 billion federal bailout.
As part of his campaign promise for more transparency in government, President Obama's proposal would make details of the stimulus package, including the reasoning for certain projects and lists of state and local officials who signed off on the plan, available with the click of a mouse.
"No plan is perfect, and we should work to make it stronger," the president said. "But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential."
"What we would like to do is try to amend the bill so that it would be something we will support," Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, said on CNBC.
The stimulus package could help higher education. A proposal to include colleges and universities in the stimulus package was signed by more than 40 higher education leaders including UA System President B. Alan Sugg.
An open letter published in The New York Times and The Washington Post Dec. 16 asked for 5 percent of the economic stimulus to be set aside for higher education facilities.
New UA projects set to begin with proper funding include renovations to aging facilities, new classrooms and research facilities.
With the exact details of the plan, including state help, still a mystery going into Friday, states like Arkansas anxiously await the final plan as Democrats hope to get the legislation on the president's desk by the end of next week.
President Obama has buttered and battled for the American Recovery and Reinvestment plan since before the Senate began voting Tuesday. The president hosted a bipartisan Super Bowl Sunday party, and even carried around a tray of freshly baked cookies for guests.
In an effort to get things rolling faster and more smoothly, the President appeared on five major networks Tuesday, including ABC, CNN and Fox News, but questions over the tax woes of administration nominees dogged the main goal of the media blitzkrieg.
One House Republican, despite President Obama's surprise visit to the House chambers for a long sit down for questions, did not support the $819 billion version of the stimulus bill passed in the House.
President Obama also responded to public outrage over the $18 billion in Wall Street bonuses last year by announcing a salary cap of $500,000 Wednesday for the top executives of the companies receiving the largest servings of the $700 billion federal bailout.
As part of his campaign promise for more transparency in government, President Obama's proposal would make details of the stimulus package, including the reasoning for certain projects and lists of state and local officials who signed off on the plan, available with the click of a mouse.
"No plan is perfect, and we should work to make it stronger," the president said. "But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential."
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