Feb. 19, 2009 – Delegate Donna M. Christensen Thursday was cautiously optimistic as she outlined the impact of the recently signed federal economic stimulus bill on the Virgin Islands.
“It won't solve all our problems,” said Christensen, speaking at the Rotary Club of St. Croix. “But it will help.”
Christensen said that the figures she had were at this point estimations. On Tuesday President Barack Obama signed the bill into law, and Christensen said she believed the Virgin Islands would get between $200 and $240 million from the bill. Later Thursday Gov. John deJongh Jr. held a press conference in which he announced the territory will receive $244 million, and broke it down into categories.
The amount of the windfall sounds like a lot, Christensen told the Ratorians Thursday, but it really isn't.
She explained that half of it could be eaten up with a sewage project. She said the money was being presented as a “use it or lose it proposition.”
In her presentation she mentioned that the money for the stimulus package would be borrowed and the first question from the audience was “Who was the money to be borrowed from?”
Much of the U.S. debt is already financed by China through the sale of federal securities such as Treasury Bills, and Christensen assumes that nation will also be the purchaser of new securities floated to finance the stimulus.
That answer was immediately followed by the question, “What if China cuts us off?”
Christensen said that, from what she has heard and read, China and Japan and other nations who purchase United States securities, financing the debt, would not cut off the United States because the United States would then be unable t buy their products. It is in China's interest for the U.S. economy to be strong enough to buy the goods it produces.
The Rotary Club audience wanted to know the time line for the stimulus package to be spent. Christensen said the timeline is 120 days, and the questioner wondered if, given the history of the Virgin Islands government, if the government would be able to meet that deadline.
Christensen clarified that the money had to be “obligated” and not actually spent in that period. She said her office and the governor's office had been working together on how to deal with the stimulus package.
“The getting-ready part started long before yesterday,” Christensen said. “We don't want to see it going back to Washington either.”
Property and Procurement and other departments have been involved in the planning and realize the importance of streamlining the allocating process, according to Christensen.
According to media reports, the bill, officially named the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, concentrates on five major areas:
– Help for the middle class taxpayers.
– Job creation by infrastructure projects.
– Expansion of unemployment, welfare, and health insurance benefits.
– Modernization and reform in the fiscal system.
– State and local projects for renewable energy.
More than 50 Rotarians and guests attended the presentation at Getrude's Restaurant.
The complete bill can be read online.
