Anti-stimulus Illinois Republicans now want $ for coal plant

From an AP article, three U.S. House representatives from Illinois – two Republicans and one Democrat – have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy to get stimulus bill money for the FutureGen coal plant near Mattoon, Ill.

Of course, as we all know, every single Republican in the House voted against the stimulus bill.

The three Representatives are Tim Johnson (R), John Shimkus (R), and Jerry Costello (D).

Johnson has a press release on his web site:

U.S. Rep. Timothy V. Johnson today released a letter he is sending to Department of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu calling on the DOE to release its Record of Decision on FutureGen, along with $1 billion in Fossil Energy Research funding contained in the President’s stimulus package.

He goes on, apparently without any irony:

With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 now enacted into law, we recommend that DOE direct funds towards FutureGen because of the positive effects it will have on the economy. While not specifically mentioned in the stimulus package, it is our understanding that DOE could fund FutureGen at $1 billion under DOE’s ‘fossil energy research and development programs.’ We believe FutureGen would make exceptional use of these funds.

Looks like some Republicans are looking to punch their “conservative movement” card by voting against the stimulus and get their cake, too.

By the way, I found this little bit of info buried on B6 of today’s Peoria Journal Star.

(Cross-posted to Daily Kos)