John Mica who Brags about Stimulus, Flip Flops again

First John Mica votes against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ( the stimulus funding), and then brags about it as has been reported by numerous media outlets.

Now he's having some second thoughts again on transportation and infrastructure project funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, saying:

We must ask, is this so-called stimulus funding being used to help Americans who badly need jobs, or is this funding being used to benefit private companies, fund long-term studies rather than ready-to-go projects, and pay for projects that do nothing to employ people?

What is it Mica,......only if it's for your Sunrail pet project it's ok?

How about your own earmark to "study Beach erosion," how many jobs did that create?

Ah, there are different standards for the money you bring in, or the stimulus money spent on your pet projects. BTW, what was that ridership for Sunrail again? 3,500 you say? Sounds like this project wasn't done to take traffic off I-4, instead it likely has a business development motive rather a commuter need.

Good thing this bad deal fell through. It would have set a bad example to start Central Florida rail transit with.
The something is better than nothing argument is unconcionable when we are talking about a $1.2 billion project.

John Mica is an Ultra Right-winger, Loyal Member of the Party of NO

Americans already know that this economic crisis is too big for the "free market" to solve, after all it was the "free market" gone wild that caused our economic meltdown. So lets see how John Mica reflects 2/3 of the Americn voters:

64% favor giving aid to homeowners who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. John Mica's position? Oppose.

59% oppose giving aid to U.S. banks and financial companies in danger of failing. John Mica's position? Oppose.

67% favor giving aid to state governments in serious financial trouble. John Mica's position? Cut that aid.

Yet John Mica is routinely given praise for delivering aid to his district, which clearly he votes against. He is AGAINST any AID to Florida:

NO on the stimulus, then is bragging about its passage.
NO on the appropriations bill, then is happy it passes.
No on Help for Families Losing their Homes to Foreclosure, while FL-07 is in the top 10 of all 435 congressional districts in the number of home foreclosures!

Is THAT how John Mica is helping Florida recover from our economic crisis. Just Say NO, do-nothingness?!?

Is John Mica just a place-holder for the Republican party? It sure looks like it.

Facing the Voters on Earmark Spending

All week, John Mica received a huge backlash after he issued a two-faced press release that caused huge controversy for his praise of stimulus spending for Central Florida, with no mention that he voted AGAINST the stimulus bill.

Here is a far more appropriate and more personal response from another congressman in a face to face meeting with the people in his district:

During the question-and-answer period at his town hall meeting, constituents asked Kratovil about certain aspects of the stimulus package, including whether there was money for the Chesapeake Bay. Kratovil responded there was no money for the Chesapeake because the stimulus did not include earmarks, which are funds targeted to specific local projects.

Now that's a really up front answer, rather than boasting that stimulus money is targeted to a specific central Florida project as John Mica does:

“The total appropriation for transit systems includes $750 million for the New Starts program,” Mica said.

“Nationally, the Central Florida Commuter Rail project is next in line for final approval and federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration."

And more confounding is the fact is that Mica had long ago asserted that he had already secured federal funding for the commuter rail project,......way before there was talk of a stimulus bill:

In 2007:

With one day to spare before possibly losing $180 million in federal funding, CSX Transportation and the state Thursday reached the final deal needed for the region's first commuter-rail system.The agreement turns over 61 miles of tracks from DeLand to Orlando to Poinciana. That means the first leg of the project -- from Fort Florida Road in DeBary to Sand Lake Road in Orange County -- is on track to open in summer 2010.

And at that point, nine daily freight trains -- the bane of harried ommuters -- will be moved out of the heart of Orlando and rerouted around the city toward Winter Haven.
Mica noted that although he could not guarantee when the federal money would be awarded, the money from the Federal Transit Administration is "as certain as anything can be."
Half of the $615 million system will be paid for by the federal government, 25 percent from the state and 25 percent from Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties and Orlando. All five governments voted unanimously for the project earlier this year.

A separate $491 million agreement between CSX and the state of Florida covers several items, including the 61 miles of track, improvements to the freight line that will carry the extra freight traffic and several new or improved rail crossings in Alachua, Marion and Sumter counties.

In 2008

Mica is largely responsible for securing more than $300 million in federal funding to help build the 61-mile long rail project between DeLand and Poinciana, connecting Osceola, Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties.

Now which one is it? Did John Mica already have federal funding lined up, or is he dependent on stimulus funding, and if so, why the heck did he vote AGAINST the stimulus plan?

Smacks of deception aka lying.

John Mica Votes Against Funding for Sun Rail

In true form, as a representative of the Party of NO, John Mica votes against funding for Sun Rail, ........ he votes NO on the stimulus package.

Then John Mica has the nerve to brag about the funding the stimulus package "might" create for Sun Rail:

“The total appropriation for transit systems includes $750 million for the New Starts program,” Mica said. “Nationally, the Central Florida Commuter Rail project is next in line for final approval and federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration.
“The timing couldn’t be better. All the project needs is the State Legislature’s approval of the CSX-Florida Department of Transportation liability agreement,” Mica said.

And apparently Mica has also had the gall to brag about the highspeed rail funding that was put into the stimulus bill by Senator Harry Reid. So lets get this straight,......again John Mica voted AGAINST this highspeed rail funding and then turns around to brag about the funding being in the stimulus plan:

Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.
"I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.
Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.
Republicans echoed their party line over and over during the debate: "This bill is loaded with wasteful deficit spending on the majority's favorite government programs," as Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., put it.

How do you explain that?

Mike Steel, a spokesman for House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio, at first ducked when asked about Mica and Young issuing press releases praising the bill
they'd opposed.
"I don't work for Mica or Young," Steel said initially.

So there you have it Mica was for the rail spending, before he was against it, before he was for it....

You figure it out.
One thing is for sure,.....Mica is against creating jobs or he would have voted YES on the stimulus bill.

BTW John Mica and Don Young have been connected before on questionable earmark spending in the case of another famous transportation pet project: The Coconut Road Earmark

Republicans United Against Jobs and Against Helping the Unemployed

Ray LaHood passed up the allure of K Street to join President Obama’s Cabinet, but he’s been doing a lot of lobbying this week.

The former Illinois congressman, who is now Obama’s secretary of Transportation, is leaning on his ex-colleagues to back the president’s stimulus package. He has placed calls to a number of Republicans, including Reps. John Mica (Fla.), Frank LoBiondo (N.J.), Steven LaTourette (Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va.) and Charlie Dent (Pa.). LaHood told ABC News that he has called 11 House Republicans.

LaHood, who used to sit on the Appropriations Committee, has been trying to sell Republicans on the increased infrastructure spending that would go to their states.
Despite LaHood’s outreach, Mica, ranking member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said that he is likely to vote against the measure.

Wow, the ranking member of Transportation voting against jobs!


And this is coming from a man who inanswer to the question about voters' wish for Congress to stop bickering and creating consensus, said this:

"I think folks who know me that (I) am probably one of the most bipartisan folks you ever met."

You can find that quote at about 14 min and 20 sec into this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5ylBIS5x6Q

Back to the Hill article, what's even more distressing:

During an interview on CNN on Sunday, LaHood said he is having little luck
convincing his former House Republican colleagues to back the stimulus package.
“I’m going to do everything I can to help the president find the votes for the conference report once the Senate passes this. I’m going to work the phones, I’m going to talk to my former colleagues and do everything I can to persuade them that this bill really will put people to work.”
Democrats will have the votes to pass a stimulus bill in the House, but they privately
acknowledged that they were surprised that every voting Republican rejected the House-passed measure in late January.

Yeah, you heard that right,.......not one Republican voted for jobs. They want to work the old, tried, and failed formula of more of the same: Substantially just Tax Cuts.


Never mind that tax cuts will do nothing for our economy according to Mark Zandi:

Only $1.02 is generated in economic activity from every $1 in tax cuts.

Japan’s Big-Works Stimulus Is Lesson shows us that from every $1 invested in infrastructure projects in the 1990s, $1.37 in economic activity was created.

As far as helping the unemployed, Republicans would do well to realize that spending heavily to promote social development, is a good investment. Again Japan's experience shows that every dollar spent on spent on social services, like care for the elderly and monthly pension payments, created $1.74 of economic activity.

Many of the excessive additional tax cuts will do little to nothing for our economy, and will not benefit those who already have a reduced incomes or those who have already lost their jobs.

As the title of this blog entry says: Republicans are United Against Jobs and Against Helping the Unemployed. Survival of the fittest may be a quaint idea when the economy is flourishing, but it is outright irresponsible and disastrous during a recession