Students filled the EMU Fishbowl to its brim on Tuesday morning, eagerly awaiting President Barack Obama’s inauguration. The students reacted as if they were at the National Mall, clapping when they were moved by the ceremony and placing their hands over their hearts during the national anthem.
As the students looked at the president, who stood behind a flag-draped podium, local and state politicians were busy working to make changes in their own state.
Oregon’s state and local policy makers are looking at the inauguration as an opportunity to usher in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, a stimulus package that may give their desired policies the financial stability they need.
“We stopped committees to watch the inauguration on television, but honestly, our job isn’t to wait and see what president Obama is going to do, our job is to get back to work,” Sen. Jeff Kruse said.
The budget deficiency has forced Gov. Ted Kulongoski to cut state programs across the board and question how the state will manage to make ends meet. The governor has no choice but to wait and see what the president approves in the stimulus package. Although the amount of money each state will receive for programs is currently unknown, a rough sketch of what Congress is proposing to spend money on has been drafted.
Rem Nivens, the governor’s spokesman, said the president’s passage of the stimulus package would be the most significant way a new president could help the state of Oregon.
“The stimulus is very important. The governor is counting on the president to pass the package as a way to fund education, health care and job-creation programs for the state,” he said. “Money is the determining factor behind every decision the governor makes for the state right now.”
When it comes to education, the rough draft of the bill includes a $15.6 billion increase in the Federal Pell Grant Program, as well as a $6 billion increase for higher education modernization, which is designated to update technology at state universities.
The money could assist Oregon in preserving funding for higher education institutions for the first part of the 2009-11 biennium and assist the state in compensating for the $225 million budget deficit projected for the second half of the biennium.
The Eugene City Council is also looking to Obama for an answer to the city’s budget crisis.
“If Eugene could get some of the money from the economic stimulus package, we would be sitting in a lot better place,” city councilman George Poling said. “The inauguration stir is not as big of a deal as the election was for people in city government. We are already busy moving forward in repairing roads and improving the city as a whole.”
The stimulus includes $30 billion for highway construction and upkeep, an area of interest for Eugene where potholes and highway conditions are a major concern. The stimulus also includes $31 million to improve the infrastructure of city, state and federal buildings, which is good news for mayor Kitty Piercy, who made it one of her goals to improve the unsafe structure of city hall.
County budget planner David Garnick is hoping Obama will keep his interest in the county timber payments, a program that compensates counties for the federal government’s use of county forest land. The temporary program was adopted as part of the bailout in November. Without the money, the county loses more than $40 million in funding.
“When Obama was campaigning through the state, he seemed to think county payments were very important, I hope he will look favorably upon that,” Garnick said.
Regardless of the many concerns city and state officials have regarding budget deficits, the ushering in of a new president was enough to change the mood of a busting state capital.
“It is history. It’s a wonderful moment no matter who you are or who you voted for,” Sen. Floyd Prozanski said. “The new president will give us a new perspective on how we do business. There is such a positive energy all around the capital today.”
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