It was just too glowing, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said.
Pawlenty, back in Minnesota Tuesday, said he refused to sign on to a letter to the leaders of congress at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, DC because it said was too positive about the impact the stimulus package had about job creation.
Much of the letter, which 47 other state, territorial or commonwealth governors signed, revolves around the governors' request that Congress continue to pay more for states Medicaid costs.
"I do believe the federal government should pay more for that program but the way the letter was worded in the first paragraph in particular it had a kind of glowing or positive comments about the stimulus more generally and its jobs impact," he said.
The governor has gone around the country bashing the stimulus bill as wasteful and a missed opportunity.
While Pawlenty said he supports that idea of the federal government paying more of states' Medicaid costs -- indeed, he relies on the not-yet-approved federal payments to balance his budget -- he just couldn't approve of all the nice things the letter said about the stimulus.
He said he "worked with" National Governor's Association staff to try to get the language reworked but "because (we were) trying to get 50 people to agree on the same language taking that out of there was not agreed upon in the final language."
Here is the first paragraph of the letter:
