Patrick: Mass. Getting Up To $9B From Stimulus

Gov. Deval Patrick says Massachusetts will receive between $6 billion and $9 billion from the federal stimulus signed into law by President Obama this week.

WBUR's Fred Thys reports.

Gov. Patrick is warning that state officials won't have much discretion about how to spend most of the federal money.

PATRICK: Before you get all excited about it, most of these funds will come for specific programs, either to the state or directly to municipalities. Some will come to fund certain types of infrastructure projects.

Massachusetts will receive about $400 million for highways and another $300 million for mass transit. Some money — for tax cuts and for food stamps, for instance — will go directly to individuals.

Patrick says the stimulus won't be a panacea, because the state faces a $6 billion budget deficit between this year and next.