S.C. legislators confront Sanford over stimulus

South Carolina legislators are attempting to force Gov. Mark Sanford (R) to accept federal stimulus dollars that he has so far spurned.

Sanford says he’ll only accept the $700 million earmarked for schools, prisons and other social services if the state can use it to pay down its debt. Legislators, including prominent Republicans, say the money is needed to prevent draconian cuts to important programs.

The Senate Finance Committee will release draft budget plan today that includes $350 million of the contested money, The State newspaper reports. If passed, that plan would run into a possible veto from Sanford. There are also legal questions over whether the legislature can spend the federal money without Sanford’s approval.

State Sen. Hugh Leatherman (R), the chairman of the FInance Committee, told The State that without the stimulus dollars, the legislature would have to cut $460 million from state agencies.

A Sanford spokesman shot back that the committee’s budget is a political ploy.

“Senator Leatherman needs to stop with the chaos budgets, the games and the delay tactics, and put forward a real budget for discussion,” said Joel Sawyer.

Yesterday, Sen. Vincent Sheheen (D) introduced legislation to force Sanford to take the stimulus dollars.