Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is asking Congress for a second round of economic stimulus money and appealing to the Obama administration to ease rules for existing aid that could force the state to reverse some spending cuts.
Culver told a Senate appropriations subcommittee on Thursday that Congress should extend federal unemployment benefits and provide additional aid to states for education, health care and other needs.
“No one has been immune form these economic realities that we’re dealing with,” Culver told the panel, which was chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia.
Some 40,000 Iowans have exhausted their state unemployment benefits, which usually last 26 weeks, he said.
While he was Washington, Culver also asked the U.S. Education Department to waive rules in the 2009 stimulus bill that were designed to prevent states from slashing their budgets and filling the gap with federal stimulus money.
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Des Moines Register
Philip Brasher
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