Providence Journal: ‘Everybody wants money’: RI lawmakers overwhelmed with requests for share of federal aid
Days away from the start of State House hearings on the ways Gov. Dan McKee wants to spend the first big chunk of Rhode Island's $1.1-billion federal windfall, state lawmakers have been barraged with competing requests.
"Nursing homes want several hundred million dollars. URI wants a quarter of a billion dollars,'' House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said Monday.
"Crossroads wants it for [the] homeless. [Former First Lady] Stephanie Chafee wants it for the free clinic. ... [Former Rep.] Nancy Benoit wants it for Head Start. [Duffy & Shanley executive] Jon Duffy ... want(s) it for the Boys & Girls Clubs."
"I could go on and on and on," Shekarchi said.
"For every $1 of federal money that we have as a state, I have received at least $10 in requests. A lot of people want money. Everybody wants money," he said.
"I am telling everybody when the hearings come, to come forward."
Asked if this money scramble has made a special session any more or less likely this fall, Shekarchi said, "I don't want to give odds ... I really don't know."
"After these hearings, we may have a different set of priorities that need immediate attention,'' Shekarchi, the Warwick Democrat who leads the House, said Monday.
His comments came at the start of a week that will see hearings by both the House and Senate Finance Committees on McKee's proposals for spending the first 10% of Rhode Island's so-far untouched $1.1-billion windfall from the American Rescue Plan.
The House has posted its hearing for Wednesday .The focus: McKee's $32 million earmark for "small businesses" and $13 million for "Tourism, Hospitality, and Events Industry Support."