While there was word yesterday that he was waffling on the economic recovery package, Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski ultimately “voted in favor” of the bill (unlike the entire GOP delegation). He even co-sponsored an important amendment that added $3 billion for public transit funding, $100 million of which is earmarked for Illinois.

Yet when asked by the Sun-Times what he would have liked to see changed in the House bill, Lipinski picked food stamps -- yes, food stamps -- as his target:

Among other things, Lipinski said he was concerned about the bill’s inclusion of an extra $20 billion for food stamps. Some of that money could have been spent on transportation, he said.

“People are hurting, people have lost their jobs, food prices have risen, but I think it’d be better to give someone the opportunity to have a job, to create jobs, than to give them food stamps,” he said.

Lipinski’s ignorance of the stimulative effect of food stamps is inexcusable.

Every $1 spent on food stamp benefits generates $1.73 of economic activity, according to the USDA.  Moody’s identifies it as the most stimulative type of spending available to the government, more than both infrastructure spending and tax cuts.

While food stamp benefits have recently failed to keep up with rising grocery costs, the House bill would increase them by 13.1 percent nationwide. In Illinois, 1.4 million people (PDF) would benefit from the provision.

A proper stimulus is going to require a balance between short-term fixes that get those on the bottom of the economic scale spending (food stamp and unemployment insurance expansions) and longer-term measures that create job growth (infrastructure and transportation improvements). 

Lipinski is right to fight for more mass transit spending.  But he would do well to remember that, according to House Transportation Committee chairman James Oberstar (D-MN), the amount of transit funding was cut by $20 billion to accomodate GOP-favored tax cuts for businesses.

If he's looking for a target, there it is.