Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington governor Chris Gregoire was in Vancouver Tuesday promoting her economic stimulus package.

Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Governor Gregoire wants to spend $430 million dollars on: increasing benefits for unemployed people; reducing taxes; getting dislocated workers into job training programs; and allowing people in part-time jobs to get partial unemployment pay.

Chris Gregoire: “So those are the kinds of things that we’ve put in our economic stimulus package to see if we can’t kick start our own economy in this state.”

Gregoire is hoping to have the money circulating by May – if lawmakers in Olympia give it the nod by February.

But she warns, it won’t be a cure all and she expects the economy to get worse, before it gets better.