Presentations from "Stop the Spending Summit"

The House Republican Office has posted the powerpoints from Steve Norton, Charlie Arlinghaus, and John Stephen from yesterday's "Stop the Spending Summit".

Steve Norton's is full of great charts showing how New Hampshire spends money compared to the rest of the nation. John Stephen's contains specific suggestions for curbing spending growth in New Hampshire. And Charlie Arlinghaus looks at the size of New Hampshire's budget hole both this biennium and next.

John Stephen: Obamacare will blow a giant hole in NH's budget

Former NH HHS Commissioner John Stephen writes in the Union Leader that ObamaCare will have severe longterm costs for the nation and the state.

Enclosed in the legislation are several ticking fiscal time bombs that threaten to blow major holes in our budgets over the next few years. Each of these provisions would put stress on any state's budget, but the cumulative effect of all could sink individuals and businesses with higher state taxes at a time when we will need strong growth coming out of the recession.

A cursory estimate shows how great the financial implications would be. The Granite State could easily be looking at a $1 billion impact over the next decade in increased state spending and lost revenues. That already sounds bad, but the real danger is back-loaded, with roughly $700 million of the damage being done in the last four years.

UL Ed Page Bashes Stimulus

The Union Leader this morning dedicates serious real estate to bashing the stimulus bill passed by the House, both in its lead editorial...

We were told that it would keep people from winding up on the streets. Only $11 billion goes to housing assistance.

We were told that it would help Americans who got laid off. Only $4.6 billion goes to employment and training programs, and $27 billion to expand unemployment benefits. (By contrast, the bill raises Medicaid spending by $89 billion.)

We were told that it had to be passed immediately. But the Congressional Budget Office notes that large portions of the spending cannot even begin until spring and will take three to eight years to complete.

The Wall Street Journal calculated that only 12 percent of the bill's provisions can accurately be called stimulative. The rest is simply being thrown at favored constituencies by Congress. The bill even includes a provision forbidding the use of foreign steel in the construction projects it funds. Does no one in Congress remember Smoot-Hawley?

And in an Op-Ed from former HHS Commissioner John Stephen:

The premise behind the "stimulus" bill is a belief in the debunked Keynesian notion that government spending creates a multiplying effect that accelerates economic activity. This belief continues despite numerous failed attempts at this policy, including in Japan and during the New Deal.

What those proposing this irresponsible plan miss is that the money for this spending has to come from somewhere, and that means borrowing it. However, taking money out of the economy only to put it back into federal programs gets America right back to square one. The only way this will improve the economy is if the federal government can use that money more efficiently than the private sector can. Anyone who believes this should call me because I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'm trying to sell.

Stephen Pushed NH Reforms in RI

Tom Fahey leads his Under the State House Dome column with word that former NH Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen is working to implement some of the changes he championed in New Hampshire down in Rhode Island:

Stephen, now a management consultant on health care and government affairs, worked to convince federal regulators to approve a Medicaid waiver that, among other things, would allow Rhode Island to shift long-term care emphasis from nursing homes to community and home-based care.

He brought a similar plan to New Hampshire with great fanfare in 2004 while Gov. Craig Benson, who appointed Stephen, was still in office. Stephen predicted New Hampshire would save $380 million over five years, most of it through cuts in nursing home use.

GraniteCare moved through several phases before passing pieces of it in 2005, when Stephen butted heads with Gov. John Lynch over its details.