And by implication, Phil Bredesen can take all of it or leave all of it

New York's U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer calls bluff of Governors who maintain that they are considering rejecting unemployment benefits in the federal stimulus legislation. Schumer called unemployment benefits one of the "most efficient and cost-effective fiscal stimulus measures," and maintained that they yielded returns higher than their costs.

Tennessee's red-state Democratic Governor, Phil Bredesen, has joined Republican Governors in saying that he is considering rejecting federal stimulus dollars for unemployment because of possible future costs. The NY Times has the best response to that:

Governors ... should be worrying about how to end this recession while helping constituents feed and house their families — not about finding ways to revive tired election-year arguments about big spending versus small government.

Governor Bredesen has never struck me as exactly sensitive to families in dire circumstances.