Bredesen checks in from governors association meeting

Calls meeting with the President-elect unprecedented and productive

Email | Print By A.C. Kleinheider

In a conference call this afternoon, Gov. Phil Bredesen shared his impressions on the National Governors Association meeting with President-Elect Obama in Philadelphia.

The governor described the meeting, called by Obama, as productive, well-attended and unprecedented in modern times during a presidential transition.

"I've never been to a meeting with so many governors," said Bredesen. "I got to see many people I haven't seen in some time."

Bredesen made it clear that the bipartisan assemblage of governors were not looking for a handout but for ways that the states can work with the new administration to alleviate the hardships that have befallen the states due to the economic crisis.

"The focus was on finding the most efficient ways of getting money to the people who need it," Bredesen said.

The governor emphasized that, while there was little discussed in terms of specifics, the general consensus was that the best way forward is a "two-pronged approach" that would include job-creating investments in infrastructure as well as help with direct assistance programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment.

Specifically discussed was the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) calculus which determines what proportion of Medicaid dollars each state receives based on its per-capita income relative to the national average.

Bredesen revealed that while Obama did not seem to favor tinkering with those percentages, his administration may be open to absorbing the cost of people added to the program since the start of the economic crisis.

In addition to the bipartisan meeting with governors today, Bredesen said the president-elect, along with his Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel and transition co-chair John Podesta, met with a smaller group of Democratic governors last night.

Asked by a reporter if anyone at the conference had broached the subject of Tennessee's anomolous election result – the state supported John McCain over Obama in great numbers – Bredesen told reporters that Obama was "nice enough" not to bring that up but that some of his fellow governors did ask "what went wrong" with Tennessee.

"Well, we didn't do too well there," Bredesen admitted responding.