BY JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — In a letter to President Barack Obama, Gov. Donald Carcieri blasts the economic stimulus plan passed by the House of Representatives as “deeply flawed” and “ill advised,” and he recommends tax cuts in favor of some of the spending proposals in the House bill.

The Republican governor told the new Democratic president that “I have spent over 30 years in business — 10 of them in the banking industry — and have been governor for six years. This plan, as was confirmed by the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) analysis, will not produce immediate job growth. Further, it is laden with enormous amounts of spending that have little to do with economic stimulus.
Praising the president for the parts of the plan he does like, Carcieri noted that “In Rhode Island’s case, approximately 70 percent of the proposed stimulus is related to fiscal stabilization, Medicaid and highways and bridges. These are important parts of the stimulus plan to help our state and municipalities through this difficult period.”
However, Carcieri adds, “30 percent of the entire stimulus package, or over $250 billion is other proposed spending. I would respectfully urge you to re-direct that amount to lower individual tax withholdings. More money in people’s take-home pay will restore confidence in every household.”
The governor concludes his two page missive to the White House by saying, “I wholeheartedly agree with you that there is a profound sense of urgency for Congress to enact a stimulus plan. However the plan that has passed the House contains spending provisions which are ill-advised. Our children will have to pay the bill for this stimulus. It would be better to give them the money now!”
As for what the governor would like to see in the plan, he sent the president a list:
n Provide relief for those families that have been affected by unemployment.
n- Provide assistance to state government budgets, to avoid tax increase at the local level.
--- Provide massive tax reductions across the board by lowering tax withholding rates and putting more disposable income in weekly family paychecks.
--- Provide financing for highway and bridge upgrades.
--- Stabilize the banking and credit system with low interest rates, and absorption of the toxic assets.
The letter was copied to Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and the four members of the state’s Congressional delegation.
Carcieri also announced Thursday that he asked legislative leaders to extend the deadline for him to submit a 2010 budget so he can incorporate funding coming to the state through the stimulus legislation, which the Senate was slated to vote on its version Thursday night.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Rep. James Langevin said, “I am pleased to learn that Governor Donald Carcieri 'wholeheartedly believes that there is a profound sense of urgency for Congress to enact a stimulus plan'. I couldn't agree more. Our state's economy is dire. I believe that we need swift action to begin to stem the tides of our current economic recession and create jobs so people can get back to work.
"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is still being debated in Congress, will transform our economy for the 21st Century through much needed investments in our health care system, infrastructure, education, and energy independence, thereby saving and creating millions of jobs immediately. I support this legislation because I believe it puts Rhode Island families first."
The Recovery Plan has unprecedented accountability measures built in -providing strong oversight, an historic degree of public transparency, and does not include earmarks. Once the final bill is signed into law, Rhode Islanders can tack the spending at www.recovery.gov.
Sen. Jack Reed’s office issued a statement Thursday saying, “The legislation that we’re working on, that President Obama is proposing, will begin to turn the tide” of job losses that Rhode Island and the nation have experienced. “It is anticipated that this legislation could create at least 13,000 jobs over the next several months in Rhode Island. It could reestablish a sense of hope, a sense of progress, a sense of opportunity in the state.
“In response we have to act quickly and decisively to pass this legislation.  It's estimated that with the plan that President Obama has suggested, we can provide 13,000 additional jobs in Rhode Island over the next several months.  That is going to be good news to the people of Rhode Island.
“With banks failing, automakers on the verge of bankruptcy, pervasive unemployment, the American people are asking us to respond and to do so quickly and decisively. 
More than one Congressional source pointed to an op-ed piece Obama wrote for Thursday’s Washington Post, responding to remarks similar to Carcieri’s that he has heard from other Republical leaders.
“In recent days,” he wrote, “there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.  I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change.”