Schwarzenegger: I’ll Take Fellow GOP Govs’ Stimulus Money

By ANDY BARR | Politico

Fresh off a grueling budget battle in his state, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Saturday that if fellow Republican governors threatening to turn down stimulus funds follow through on their pledge, he’d be happy to have their share.

“Everyone has their own way of thinking,” Schwarzenegger said of those governors in an interview with POLITICO at the National Governors Association’s annual meeting. “I just hope they give me their funding.”

Schwarzenegger supports President Barack Obama’s $778 billion stimulus, but four Republican governors have said they may reject some of the stimulus funds …

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Schwarzenegger May Terminate 20,000 California Employees Amid Budget Impasse

By Michael B. Marois and William Selway | Bloomberg.com

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to fire thousands of government workers as an impasse over the state’s $42 billion budget shortfall threatens to drain the state of cash.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, plans to send notices on Feb. 13 to 20,000 workers informing them they may be terminated, Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, told reporters in Sacramento today. The notices will go to about 8 percent of the state’s employees, laying the groundwork for the governor’s goal of temporarily cutting as many as 10,000 jobs, he said.

“This is not a threat,” said McLear. “This is being done out of a sense of reality. The state is running out of cash.” …

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