Sanford: Still debating the $700 million

South Carolina lawmakers are debating, likely for the last time, a $5.6 billion government spending plan that would force Gov. Mark Sanford to use federal stimulus cash.
   
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman said Wednesday that the state can’t do without $700 million in federal stimulus money available to South Carolina over the next two years.
   
Sanford has said he would refuse to request the money unless it could be used to pay down debt. The White House has twice refused his request.
   
Under the budget proposal, most money would be spent on public schools and colleges. Leatherman said money also would go to prisons and add as many as 150 troopers to the Highway Patrol. That would bring their ranks to 1,000 for the first time since 1972.