Stimulus working or not? Heller and Berkley duke it out

WASHINGTON -- Is the economic stimulus strategy working in Nevada or not?

No definitive answer was reached on Thursday, but Nevada Reps. Dean Heller and Shelley Berkley verbally duked it out over that question in a House debate that was unusual for its direct language.

It came as the House was preparing to vote on a bill that would extend emergency unemployment benefits for millions of jobless Americans through the end of November. Heller, a Republican, and Berkley, a Democrat, with Rep. Dina Titus, also a Democrat, voted for it.

The back-and-forth crystalized the way that Republicans and Democrats view the outcomes of the $780 billion economic recovery bill that Congress passed with Democratic votes and three GOP senators in February 2009 at the urging of President Barack Obama.

In a nutshell, Republicans say things have not gotten better while Democrats say things could be a lot worse.

Noting his state once again has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, Heller during debate said the stimulus "has failed Nevada."

"Despite the promises from this administration that the stimulus bill would cap unemployment at 8 percent, we are seeing across this nation numbers much higher than that," Heller said. "We continue to see Nevada (unemployment) grow from 10 percent, 11 percent, 12, and now 14.2 percent."

The stimulus "was supposed to be an immediate jolt," Heller said. "Clearly it didn't happen."

He said Congress should cancel its August vacation to work on the economy.

Berkley a few minutes later delivered a response.

"For any Nevadan to condemn the stimulus bill is to ignore what's going on in the state of Nevada," she said.

"Let me tell you what the stimulus package did for us," she said. "It put $700 billion into our education system. I'm not talking about only paying teachers and keeping them employed, I'm talking about the possibility of having to close schools.

"It put $500 billion into Medicaid so that poor children and poor adults aren't going to be out on the streets dying for lack of medical care. Our unemployment compensation trust fund was broke, zero, zippo. We were able to put money into that."

Berkley later said she meant to say millions of dollars, not billions. Her office also said that Nevada education received roughly $550 million and that the state's Medicaid share was $450 million plus additional money for health insurance for the unemployed.

"And in addition to that, the construction projects that came directly from the stimulus package," Berkley continued in her speech. "Not public, but private contractors bidding on these projects and then hiring construction workers. The downtown transportation center, the park and ride in Centennial Hills, the Boulder Highway Transportation Center and so many more came directly from this stimulus bill.

"We had $250 that went to every Social Security recipient, $250 went to every disabled veteran in Nevada," Berkley said. "We welcomed this money. We needed this money. It kept us afloat. Maybe my colleague is going on vacation -- I'm going home to work."

Heller took to the House floor again a short while later, and continued the debate.

"We have lost 2 million jobs in the country since the stimulus bill was passed," he said. "Forty-seven of 50 states have lost jobs.

"Clark County unemployment has gone up 40 percent, and that is undisputable, and that is failure," he said. "Since the stimulus, nearly 40,000 people have lost their jobs in Las Vegas. Tell me the stimulus is working in Las Vegas.

"I will debate anyone on this, and I am waiting for my phone to ring," Heller said.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.