In a conference call with the Nevada officials, Reid urged them to not "nitpick" and said the $900 billion-plus plan, expected to net Nevada at least $1.3 billion, is "not going to plug all the budget gaps, but it will put us on a road to recovery."
When pressed by state Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, about requirements for stimulus funds for education that Nevada may not be able to meet, Reid said, "I think you're crying wolf before the wolf's at the door."
Raggio didn't back off, saying, "We can't be required to go find some money that we don't have in order to get this funding." The bill as now written requires states to get to 2006 funding levels to get education money.
"For the senator to say I'm crying wolf doesn't help the situation," Raggio said after the phone conference. "We don't have any way of coming up with hundreds of millions of dollars to restore the education budget to 2006 levels."
Reid staffers said the Senate stimulus bill would allow for waivers of the education funding requirements, although it's not clear whether Nevada would qualify. The House version has a similar but more limited waiver provision.
"You just can't throw that money out there and let people do whatever they want with it," Reid told reporters, adding, "We're back to 2006 — that's going three years back. I don't think we're asking for too much."
"There's a lot of stuff they can move around," Reid said, noting that the state would have flexibility in some areas, including money for jobs and for school construction. He also said he spoke with Nevada school superintendents and "they understand where we are. They would be happy" with the 2006 level.
During the conference, Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons and Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, joined in the call for flexibility in the federal measure.
Buckley said the 2006 budgeting level for education "is going to be extremely difficult" for Nevada to meet. She added that it's important to include as many "enhancement" provisions that give extra funds to states hardest hit by the recession.
"That will benefit Nevada because we're the hardest hit in every area," Buckley said.
State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, backed by state Controller Kim Wallin, said he liked the focus on job creation in the stimulus plan, especially in the "green energy" sector.
Sparks Mayor Geno Martini told Reid he'd like to see funding-receipt requirements eased so that projects deemed to be "shovel-ready" at the local level could move ahead. He questioned whether such projects would qualify under the pending plan as it's currently written.
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