This editorial appeared in The Hilton Head Island Packet.
Sen. Lindsey Graham summed up our stimulus funding dilemma in the simplest of terms: The money Gov. Mark Sanford turns away will be spent somewhere else, and we will have to help pay it back with nothing to show for it.
What will South Carolina have gained in this dispute beyond a political spotlight for Sanford?
Sanford's office announced late Thursday that he would send in the required certification for most of the $8 billion in stimulus money headed for South Carolina, but he will continue to contest the $700 million in money aimed at education and law enforcement. That buys both sides more time to fight over whether lawmakers should set aside money to pay debt as a result of taking this stimulus money.
Sanford's main argument against taking the portion of the stimulus funding aimed at stabilizing state budgets and saving jobs is that when the funding goes away in two years, we will face huge budget cuts. He's assuming the economy won't recover in that time.
His position is that it's better to deal with it now than two years from now.
Better to deal with it now, while we have an unemployment rate of 11 percent, the second highest in the country?
To read the complete editorial, visit The Hilton Head Island Packet.