Tea Time at the State House

Judge Napolitano

Great turn out!

Peaceful protesting

Our little patriot

Thousands...

Our message to our leaders

She likes what she hears...

An American Anthem

Let's get it started!

Our militia

Reception with Judge Napolitano

It's time for tea once again! An estimated 10,000 Ohioans stood on the statehouse lawn to peacefully protest the expansion of our federal government and support a resolution to assert states' rights (via the 10th Amendment). Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst and New Jersey Superior Court judge, inspired the crowd with his nonpartisan view of our government's assault on the Constitution, citing both the Patriot Act (under a Republican president and Congress) and the current efforts of this Democratic president and Congress. He encouraged us to remain engaged and hold our leaders accountable, ending his speech with a quote from the honorable Thomas Jefferson, "When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When people fear the government, there is tyranny." Other speakers touched on the 2nd Amendment and issues concerning our state, such as the proposed income tax increase. Here's our local media coverage:

Columbus Dispatch:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/08/02/tea_party.ART_ART_08-02-09_B3_1GELDJE.html

10tv:
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/08/01/story_issues.html

nbc4i:
http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/local_govtpolitics/article/hundreds_assemble_at_statehouse_for_tea_party/20232/

abc6:
http://www.wsyx6.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.oh/2abe266b-www.wsyx6.com.shtml

tea'd off!

Twas the day after tax day, and throughout the US,
Tea party protesters were learning about mainstream media BS.
They portrayed us as ignorant, angry, racist, extreme,
while most of us are just trying to live our American dream.

We’re mothers and fathers and hard working voters,
And we organized this ourselves, without wealthy promoters.
In fact, most of us had never done this before,
We’ve been the silent majority, but we can take it no more.

We protested poor representation and out of control spending,
From a government whose power seems never-ending.
We’ve sent letters and emails and called and faxed,
Begging them to stop, as we’ll be further taxed.

We can’t spend our way out of this crippling mess,
As our government takes more, the people have less.
They use tax dollars to bail out those “too big to fail,”
While trusting tax cheats to fix it, who should be in jail.

They’re passing multi-billion dollar bills they don’t even read,
Full of pork barrel spending and programs we don’t really need.
They assume we don’t care or understand what they’re doing,
But it’s obvious now, there’s a peaceful revolution brewing.

For we’re looking for honest representation,
Good people who know their place in this nation.
Put politics aside and defend the Constitution,
Don’t worry about wealth and equal distribution.

The government works for us, and they need to remember,
Or in 2010 some will learn that November,
We’ll no longer tolerate their progressive plans,
And we’ll put our country into much better hands.


http://www.cafepress.com/shakshirts

Transparency in government?

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/tg115.htm

So the skinny on the Chrysler deal is this:

UAW was owed $6.5 billion; after the restructuring, they will receive $4.6 billion+ note at 9% interest
UAW will also receive $600 million in legacy costs from Diamler
UAW will have 55% equity in Chrysler
and the UAW will have authority to place a director on the board (total number of directors on board = 9)

Tax payers are owed $4 billion from TARP... after restructuring agreement, we will receive... NOTHING
Tax payers also owed $300 million in fees... after restructuring, we will receive... NOTHING
According the the chapter 11 bankruptcy agreement, the tax payers will give an additional $3.2 billion, and if Chrysler does not file chapter 11 again, we will give them an additional $4.7 billion
Tax payers will have 8% equity in Chrysler
US government will appoint 4 of the 9 board of directors

Canada was promised 20% continued production in their country
They get 2% equity in Chrysler
And they get to appoint 1 director to the board

SECURED creditors get little if anything...

Cerberus held $500 million in 2nd lien debt
Cerberus owned 81% of the company
Cerberus owned the Chrysler Headquarters in Auburn Hills
Cerberus has agreed to WAIVE all of this for.... NOTHING!!!

So, Chrysler will be run by 2 governments and a union (sure to be a success) and a heavily secured creditor gets nothing? Are you kidding? Is this administration the mob?
Next up, government run health care, government run student loans (direct lending instead of bank loans secured by government... and "public service" for loan approval), cap and trade/green energy (economics professor from Spain, Dr. Gabriel Calzada-, reports for every "green job" we create, we will lose 2.2 other jobs. “the U.S. could lose 6.6 million to 11 million jobs while it creates three million largely temporary ‘green jobs.’”

Thomas J. Pyle of the Institute for Energy Research adds:

“As this study makes clear, Spain has spent billions in tax payer resources to subsidize renewable energy programs in an effort to jump start its ailing economy – and what they’ve gotten in return are fewer jobs, skyrocketing debt and some of the highest and most regressive energy prices in the developed world."

So we potentially lose 6-11 million jobs, but we gain 3 million...let's celebrate! Never mind Spain's unemployment rate is 17.5% , so we should definitely jump on green/clean energy during a recession... sounds a lil' like the $3.4 trillion dollar budget... oh, but, wait, they're cutting $100 million! Okay, you didn't buy that? They'll up it to $17 billion (announced today). Great fiscal policy!!! If our family budget well exceeded what we could afford and I agreed to cut out my morning coffee, we'd be on par with the government cuts.
But Michelle has great arms... lets focus on that... the media loves those arms.

God bless Ed Barnett! (*he speaks for a lot of us!)

Dear I.R.S.

I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost.

I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog licence tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting licence tax, fishing license tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle license registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can't recall but I have run out of space and money.

When you do not receive my check April 15th, just know that it was an honest mistake, Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangel, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex congressman Tom Dascle and of coarse, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties, and no interest,

Ed Barnett
Witchita Falls

Czech President Warns of A Prolonged Recession

Don't endanger free markets, Czech president warns
09 Mar 2009 22:10:54 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Massive government spending and tighter regulation would prolong recession, Czech
President Vaclav Klaus said on Monday, as he urged U.S. President Barack Obama not to endanger the free market economy
in his response to the financial crisis.
In a speech at Columbia University in New York, Klaus, a former Czech prime minister who championed the free market
after the fall of Communism 20 years ago, said he never expected to see such extensive government intervention again in his
lifetime as he now sees around the world.
"I am therefore convinced that fighting for freedom and free markets, something we always appreciated here in this country
(the United States), remains the task of the day," Klaus said.
One of the world's most vocal climate change skeptics, Klaus said he looked forward to working with Obama, who will
attend an EU-U.S. summit in the Czech Republic in April on his first trip to Europe as U.S. president. The Czech Republic
holds the EU presidency for the first half of 2009.
Klaus, whose position is largely ceremonial in the Czech political system, said he hoped Obama would show "an optimum
mix of continuity and discontinuity" with the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
"I hope it will include not endangering the basic institutions of the market economy," Klaus said, adding that his own country
was resisting a trend towards massive government spending to stimulate growth.
He said Czech banks were so far relatively unscathed by the financial crisis because they followed very cautious policies in
the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
He cautioned against trying to solve economic problems by more government intervention.
"The best thing to do right now would be to temporarily weaken, if not repeal," business regulations on labor, the
environment, social issues and health, he said.
Klaus, who has written a book expressing doubts that climate change is man-made, was in New York to attend a conference
of climate-change skeptics and he reiterated his view that "global warming alarmism" is a major problem.
About 190 nations have agreed to work out a new U.N. climate treaty in December in Copenhagen to step up a fight against
warming that the U.N. Climate Panel says will bring more heat waves, droughts, floods and rising seas.
URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09478499.htm
For our full disclaimer and copyright information please visit http://www.alertnet.org
Reuters AlertNet - Don't endanger free markets, Czech presiden... http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09478499.htm
1 of 1 3/10/09 11:21 AM

There is no evidence of an economy rebounding quickly when Keynesian economics was applied, and the only benefit to expanding government is greater power for those in office. We are on the wrong path. Government is not the answer!

Brilliant!

Mitt Romney's Commentary concerning the stimulus package

Stimulate the economy, not government

By Mitt Romney
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. This commentary was adapted from remarks he made last week to the House Republican Conference.

These are extraordinary times, and like a lot of Republicans I believe that a well-crafted stimulus plan is needed to put people back to work. But the Obama spending bill would stimulate the government, not the economy.

Mitt Romney says Obama's spending bill would stimulate the government rather than the economy.

We're on an economic tightrope. The package that passed the House is a huge increase in the amount of government borrowing. And we've borrowed so much already that if we add too much more debt, or spend foolishly, we could invite an even bigger crisis.

We could precipitate a worldwide crisis of confidence in America, leading to a run on the dollar or hyperinflation that wipes out family savings and devastates the middle class.

It's still early in the administration of President Obama. Like everyone who loves this country, I want him to adopt the correct course and then to succeed. He still has a chance to step in and insist on spending discipline among the members of his own party.

It's his job to set priorities. I hope for America's sake that he knows that a chief executive can't vote "present." He has to say yes to some things and no to a lot of others.

As someone who spent a career in the private sector, I'd like to see a stimulus package that respects the productivity and genius of the American people. And experience shows us what it should look like.

First, there are two ways you can put money into the economy, by spending more or by taxing less. But if it's stimulus you want, taxing less works best. That's why permanent tax cuts should be the centerpiece of the economic stimulus. Watch Romney make argument for tax cuts

Second, any new spending must be strictly limited to projects that are essential. How do we define essential? Well, a good rule is that the projects we fund in a stimulus should be legitimate government priorities that would have been carried out in the future anyway, and are simply being moved up to create those jobs now.

As we take out nonessential projects, we should focus on funding the real needs of government that will have immediate impact. And what better place to begin than repairing and replacing military equipment that was damaged or destroyed in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan?

Third, sending out rebate checks to citizens and businesses is not a tax cut. The media bought this line so far, but they've got it wrong. Checks in the mail are refunds, not tax cuts. We tried rebate checks in 2008 and they did virtually nothing to jump-start the economy. Disposable income went up, but consumption hardly moved.

Businesses aren't stupid. They're not going to invest in equipment and new hires for a one-time, short-term blip. What's needed are permanent rate cuts on individuals and businesses.

Fourth, if we're going to tax less and spend more to get the economy moving, then we have to make another commitment as well. As soon as this economy recovers, we have to regain control over the federal budget, and above all, over entitlement spending for programs such as Social Security and Medicare. This is more important than most people are willing to admit.

There is a real danger that with trillions of additional borrowing -- from the budget deficit and from the stimulus -- world investors will begin to fear that our dollars won't be worth much in the future. It is essential that we demonstrate our commitment to maintaining the value of the dollar. That means showing the world that we will put a stop to runaway spending and borrowing.

Fifth, we must begin to recover from the enormous losses in the capital investment pool. And the surest, most obvious way to get that done is to send a clear signal that there will be no tax increases on investment and capital gains. The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts should be extended permanently, or at least temporarily.

And finally, let's exercise restraint in the size of the stimulus package. Last year, with the economy already faltering, I proposed a stimulus of $233 billion. The Washington Post said: "Romney's plan is way too big." So what critique will the media have for the size of the Obama package?

In the final analysis, we know that only the private sector -- entrepreneurs and businesses large and small -- can create the millions of jobs our country needs. The invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy hand of government.

This is why I supported Romney for President. He just "gets it." Capitalism works! We cannot spend our way out of this. And I sincerely do not understand how spending money we DON'T HAVE is going to fix our problem. It's like our house is in foreclosure, and instead of finding ways to get out of foreclosure, we're borrowing money from our kids to decorate the house! Expanding government programs with borrowed money or newly printed money will not end well. Inflation is coming; I just hope it's normal inflation and not hyperinflation.

Urgency of Pork Barrel Spending

The Fierce Urgency of Pork

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, February 6, 2009; A17

"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."

-- President Obama, Feb. 4.

Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.

And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.

The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.

He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.

At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal's private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he'd come to Washington to upend.

And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.

It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.

It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said.

Not just to abolish but to create something new -- a new politics where the moneyed pork-barreling and corrupt logrolling of the past would give way to a bottom-up, grass-roots participatory democracy. That is what made Obama so dazzling and new. Turns out the "fierce urgency of now" includes $150 million for livestock (and honeybee and farm-raised fish) insurance.

The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting "planted" for "ready to market" would mean a windfall garnered from a new "bonus depreciation" incentive.

After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.

What a great opinion piece. I honestly don't know how President Obama can support this with such arrogance. When this passes and fails to stimulate the economy, he'll have one disenfranchised country on his shoulders. That should humble him a little. I think it's time he realize he's only human... not "larger than life," or "too big to fail."

U.S. Debt Default, Dollar Collapse Altogether Likely

The prospect of the United States defaulting on its debt is not just likely. It's inevitable, and imminent.

The regulatory black holes into which sanity and reason disappear on a daily basis are soon to collapse under the mass of their sheer size. The circle jerk going on among G7 governments has to end – the steady advance of gold, even in the face of a managed price, exposes the real value of the U.S. dollar, as opposed to its apparent value expressed in the dollar index.

Is 2009 the year that the United States formally defaults? And with that, will the dollar collapse be rolled back ten for one or more?

There are a lot of reasons to support that theory. To Wall Street economists, such an event is heresy and therefore unthinkable. Yet Wall Street is the very La-la-land that bred the idea of a perpetually indebted nation in the first place.

Number one among the indicators favoring this scenario is what is happening in the U.S. Treasuries auction market.

Last Thursday, an $30 billion auction in five-year notes failed to stir the interest of traditional primary dealers. The auction itself was saved by an anonymous “indirect” bid.

Buyers are discouraged by the prospect of what is expected to amount to $2 trillion total issuance for the full year of 2009. The further out the maturities on notes, the more bearish the sentiment towards them. The only way to entice buyers is through the increase in yields.

But with yields at 1.82 per cent, five-year notes were met with a demand for 1.98 times the amount offered - the lowest bid-to-cover ratio since September. A sell-off in treasuries began in earnest upon the conclusion of that auction.

The U.S. Federal Reserve suggested last week that it was going to step up its treasury-buying activity, and the mainstream media interprets this as a form of market support. What it actually is evidence of growing anxiety and desperation on the part of the Fed as the realization dawns that demand for treasuries is progressively evaporating.

The increased demand for gold as an investment witnessed throughout the last two weeks that has pushed gold to a 4 month high is further evidence that investors across the board are gravitating more towards gold and away from U.S. debt.

So what is the catalyzing event that will precipitate outright capitulation?

I think the spin-controlled version of events will make the collapse of the derivatives market the red herring that facilitates the aw-shucks-we-have-no-choice shoe-gazing moment possible, and that’s exactly the parachute the government needs to retain a veneer of credibility - at least in its own delusional mirror.

The announcement that the CFTC was about to become the target of a regulatory overhaul supports this theory. Consistent with his unfortunate proclivity to hiring foxes to guard chickens, Barack Obama’s choice for CFTC commissioner Gary Gensler was the undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury when the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 was passed, and is one of its architects. This was the piece of legislation that was put forth to appease the opposition to “dark market” trading in certain OTC derivatives first noisily derided by CFTC commissioner Brooksley Born in 1998.

Ignoring Born’s admonishments with this act, it exempted credit default swaps (CDO’s) from regulation, resulting in the somewhere between 58 and 300 trillion dollars in value presently under threat if the positions were to be unwound. Because of their unregulated status, counterparties in the largest transactions can simply “roll forward” contracts, instead of the losing party in the transaction covering their loss with a transfer of money. It is this massive “nominal” value that could be the Achilles heel of what’s left of the U.S. banking system, and by extension, the U.S. dollar.

I don’t arrive at this conclusion because I like making catastrophic outlandish predictions. Its merely the result of following certain logical paths to their most likely outcome based on what has happened in the past.

In discussions on this topic with editors of top tier financial publications, such speculation is dismissed out of hand, and the argument to refute the likelihood of such outcomes is never brought forward.

Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) are now the largest holders of physical gold, and as a proxy for investors who don’t want to be encumbered with taking delivery of the physical, provide a simple way to participate in the gold market.

United States citizens should bear in mind, however, that should the banking system be brought down completely by the collapse of the futures market, proxies for gold such as ETF’s and bullion funds could theoretically be targeted by a government desperate for possession of value. The risk from security in holding physical bullion is matched by the risk of confiscation by government in these volatile times. Don’t forget, the government confiscated and outlawed private ownership of gold in 1933 in support of an ill-conceived gold standard, which to some extent, was that era’s spin to halt the flight of gold (and real value) from U.S. soil.

Don’t think for a minute such drastic events are outside the realm of possibility. If somebody had told you in 1998 that a bunch of angry crazy pseudo-Muslims were going to fly jetliners into the World Trade Center, what would you have said?

As Americans, we just cannot afford to remain arrogant of this issue; we can collapse our dollar. Especially with the number of bills we're printing everyday... see link and chart below (it's horrifying). (copy & paste)

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/20632/?ck=1

New Rangel Rule Bill Would Eliminate IRS Interest and Penalties

Washington, Jan 28 -

IRS Penalties and Interest Eliminated for All U.S. Taxpayers under new “Rangel Rule” Legislation

(WASHINGTON, DC) – All U.S. taxpayers would enjoy the same immunity from IRS penalties and interest as House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, if a bill introduced today by Congressman John Carter (R-TX) becomes law.

Carter, a former longtime Texas judge, today introduced the Rangel Rule Act of 2009, HR 735, which would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from charging penalties and interest on back taxes against U.S. citizens. Under the proposed law, any taxpayer who wrote “Rangel Rule” on their return when paying back taxes would be immune from penalties and interest.

“We must show the American people that Congress is following the same law, and the same legal process as we expect them to follow,” says Carter. “That has not been done in the ongoing case against Chairman Rangel, nor in the instance of our new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. If we don’t hold our highest elected officials to the same standards as regular working folks, we owe it to our constituents to change those standards so everyone is abiding by the same law. Americans believe in blind justice, which shows no favoritism to the wealthy or powerful.”

Carter also said the tax law change will provide good economic stimulus benefits, as it would free many taxpayers from massive debts to the IRS, restoring those funds to the free market to help create jobs.

No one is above the law. Expecting constituents to abide by one set of laws while representatives work with another, is completely unconstitutional and unethical. I still cannot believe we have someone running the IRS who couldn't pay his own taxes...that Turbo Tax is tricky! (Are you kidding me?) How is he going to have any credibility with the American people? Now if the "Rangel Rule"is approved, we can all benefit from Charlie and Tim's unlawful decisions...er, "mistakes."

The Detour Around the Banking Disaster

The Detour Around Banking Disaster: How We Lost the Roadmap

by: Mark Sunshine February 02, 2009

In 1998 the current banking crisis was both predictable and predicted by Congressional leaders and a future Comptroller of the Currency.

In April 1998, the House Committee on Banking & Financial Services held hearings where “lessons” from the 1980s bank and thrift crisis were discussed, and fears of industry consolidation were expressed. Hearings transcripts clearly demonstrate that the United States learned important lessons in the 1980s and 1990s… and then promptly forgot them.

The chilling 1998 transcript provides a roadmap for how to avoid blowing up banks and taking down the economy. But, instead of learning from the past, banking regulators and other politicians from both parties veered off course and drove the economy into the ditch.

The backdrop for the 1998 hearings was a wave of massive consolidation of the banking industry and concern that systemic risk was being created by institutions that were "too big to fail”.

During the 1998 hearing, John Hawke, then Under Secretary of the Treasury and soon to be Comptroller of the Currency until 2004, stated:

… I would say that we have a lot to learn from the experience of the 1980’s, but I think principal among the things we have to learn is that you can’t deal effectively with an industry like the savings and loan industry when it is already insolvent.

That was the problem that Congress faced. The industry was insolvent by 1980, and we were all pretending that it wasn’t. We tried to deal with remedies that were intended to gamble on an insolvent industry pulling itself out of insolvency.

I think the congressional response in later years, putting emphasis on the maintenance of high levels of capital, putting emphasis on prompt corrective action and on better disclosure, is a marked change from what happened during the experience of the 1980s.

When an industry or institution is insolvent, it is too late to try to bring remedies to bear, and regulation and supervision should be aimed at preventing insolvency and bringing market forces to bear, so that we are not dealing with institutions that have no net worth left. That was the problem of the 1980s.”

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney knew what to do with insolvent banks, i.e., shift losses to:

…the person who is initiating the risk and make them realize they will have to pay for it…if you make a mistake, if you squander money, take all these outrageous risks, they…are going to have to pay for it, not the American taxpayer…

Representative Joseph Kennedy understood systemic risks of putting together larger and larger institutions. Of course, the banking establishment considered Kennedy a lightweight intellectual populist who opposed financial innovation (like sub-prime mortgages and predatory lending). But, as it turns out Kennedy may have been the smartest guy in the room. In 1998 he said

…Sometimes when I look at what has happened in the banking world in the last couple of months, I think that maybe the chairmen of these banks have just gotten a prescription for the Viagra pill. I think every time I turn around they are growing and growing, but I don’t know what is going to come of it.

Mega-merger mania is the new Beanie Baby of the American financial scene; everybody has got to have one, but at the end of the day they are not worth very much…

Kennedy understood that bigger isn’t better and size isn’t the same thing as value.

The Late Congressman Bruce Vento agreed with Kennedy when he said:

…I am concerned about mega-anything, especially mega-entities with deposit insurance backed by the taxpayer and an implicit moral hazard phenomenon that is assumed.

But Congressman Maurice Hinchey voiced the most unsettling and predictive words of the 1998 hearings. He worried about Citigroup (C) and its relative power and sheer size (at the time Citigroup had acquired Travelers Insurance and was trying to get Glass Steagall legislation revoked) when he stated:

…the Citigroup companies are essentially playing a very expensive game of chicken with Congress…

History repeats itself, and Citigroup and other mega-institutions are again playing chicken with Congress. Destruction of the U.S. economy is threatened if they are not bailed out.

Next week the United States will debate how to fix the banks. The nation will be given the false choice of either:

• economic ruin; or
• saving shareholders of failing banks through the formation of a “bad bank”.

The debate will employ politically charged words like “nationalize” and “socialize” to describe what happens to banks that are actually “insolvent” and “failing”.

Institutions resisting seizure will imply that their companies have value which the Government wants to unfairly expropriate. Communist regimes and tin pan dictators “nationalize” profitable companies. But the banks that are in trouble aren’t profitable and aren’t able to survive without government assistance. The companies at risk of seizure don’t have enough net worth to survive as going concerns.

Professor Nouriel Roubini and other non-establishment economists have been pushed aside as they plead with leaders to stop playing along with failing bank managements and face reality. But, as in 1980, regulators and political leaders don’t want to admit the obvious about insolvent institutions. Instead, just like in the 1980s they seem willing to bet that insolvent banks will somehow pull themselves out of trouble without going through the pain of resolution. It isn’t a bet that has worked in the past.

The “bad bank” that the Obama Administration is considering is a bad idea that perpetuates the fiction of solvency.

A good idea (and one that worked in the past) would be to form a “bad bank” that acquires bad assets from insolvent institutions following their seizure by the FDIC.

What is at stake is who benefits from the cleaning up of the banking sector, current shareholders or taxpayers?

It’s pretty clear that the members of the 1998 House Financial Services Committee would have voted that taxpayers should get the benefit from the bad bank clean-up, since the taxpayers accepted the risk and paid the cost.

It is a shame that each generation of banking regulators and political leadership gets the opportunity to relearn the lessons of the past at the expense of the citizens of the United States. It would be better, and cheaper, if each generation simply studied the past and stopped rediscovering the obvious truth “that you can’t deal with an industry when it is already insolvent”.

- By Mark Sunshine and Ira Artman

Wow! This is some serious in-your-face honesty. Does anyone in the current administration read "Seeking Alpha?" Perhaps they should...

The case for doing nothing

The case for doing nothing By: Eamon Javers and Jim VandeHei January 28, 2009 04:15 AM EST

Most of Washington has reached quick consensus: Government must do something big to shock the economy, and it should cost between $800 billion and $900 billion. But dissident economists and investment professionals offer a much different take: Most of Washington is dead wrong. Instead of fighting over what should go in the economic stimulus bill, pitting infrastructure spending against tax cuts and contractors against contraceptives, they say lawmakers should be fighting against the very idea of any economic stimulus at all. Call them the Do-Nothing Crowd. “The economy was too big. It was all phantom wealth borrowed from abroad,” says Andrew Schiff, an investment consultant at Euro Pacific Capital and a card-carrying member of the stand-tall-against-the-stimulus lobby. “All this stimulus money is geared toward getting consumers spending and borrowing again. But spending and borrowing were the problem in the first place.” Washington has a habit of passing legislation in a crisis and suffering from morning-after regrets — the Iraq war, the Patriot Act and last year’s original bank bailout plan come to mind. So we thought it would be wise to air the views of the naysayers toward Washington’s latest consensus approach. First, we’ll look at the Do-Nothing Crowd. On Thursday, we will hear from the go-bigger-or-go-home gang, who argue that even $1 trillion in spending is far too small — and that the stimulus package should be much bigger than $825 billion. See Also The celestial choirs of bailouts Grassley launches porn inquiry Obama lawyers set to defend Yoo There is no doubt these are minority views. Most lawmakers, economists and policymakers say the economy desperately needs a massive infusion of money to prevent collapse — and needs it now. The Obama administration, backed by many economists, says unemployment could easily top 10 percent and the gross domestic product could tank absent government intervention. The language used to make the case for stimulus is stark and gloomy — and, by all measures, pretty accurate. But there is also a caveat attached to every solution proposed: that it simply might not work. Economists on the right and left say there is a chance, perhaps a decent one, that $1 trillion injected into a $14 trillion economy might be too little, too late to turn things around anytime soon. In fact, government stimulus plans have a long history of failure. Remember last February’s $168 billion economic stimulus package? President Bush called it “a booster shot for our economy” and promised that it was large enough to have an effect. It wasn’t, and it didn’t work. This time around, the Do-Nothing Crowd argues that the new spending — which dwarfs last year’s effort — is probably insufficient and definitely unwise. It is largely an economic argument. But there is also a cultural dimension. Many of the Do-Nothings argue that a painful recession is the best way to destroy America’s runaway culture of irresponsibility and debt. Economic turmoil, after all, has a way of grounding Americans. Schiff and the other Do-Nothings argue that the government should simply allow the economic chips to fall where they may. Dramatic belt-tightening across the board is the only way, they say, to stop the endless cycle of borrowing. “Our standard of living needs to come down to the point where it can be supported by organic output,” says Schiff. “It’s brutal, but it’s called capitalism, and it works. The alternative is called socialism, and it doesn’t work.” To help push that argument on Capitol Hill, the libertarian Cato Institute plans to take out a full-page ad in The New York Times and The Washington Post on Thursday and Roll Call on Wednesday, making the case against stimulus. The ad will include the names of 250 economists across the country who oppose the massive spending and tax cut program that’s backed by President Barack Obama and many congressional leaders. Many of those are Do-Nothings, while others have more nuanced views about how the proposal as packaged won’t work. For the Do-Nothings, the argument isn’t about economic nuance, it’s about right and wrong. They say that borrowing more money to finance a stimulus package will pass a crushing and possibly permanent debt load on to the next generation. “The question is,” says Chris Edwards, the director of tax policy studies at Cato, “is this morally proper?” Edwards says no. “Policymakers are saying: ‘Screw the future generations.’” The Do-Nothing Crowd also points to some of the hidden upsides of the recession — developments they say are already helping position the U.S. economy for a recovery. The most noticeable impact is that housing prices are coming down to a more sustainable level. For first-time buyers, this is reopening a path to homeownership that had been all but blocked by hyper-inflated prices. The National Association of Realtors reported this week that housing sales rose 6.5 percent from November to December, largely on the strength of bargain hunters snapping up foreclosed properties. That could be a sign that the housing market is on its way to a balancing point at which lower prices once again draw new buyers into the system. In the meantime, weak companies that have problems competing are being weeded out of the system. For example, Circuit City announced that it would liquidate its stores and assets, laying off an estimated 34,000 employees. That’s not necessarily a tragedy, argues Cato’s Edwards. “The weak are getting weeded out. Circuit City had crappy customer service, and I’m glad that Best Buy will survive and Circuit City will not.” Ideally, the collapse of weaker competitors is an economic opportunity for the stronger survivors to gain market share — and hire new workers. Another galvanizing effect of the downturn is that companies have been forced to face the reality that they haven’t been making products that customers actually want to buy. General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner, for example, conceded in testimony on Capitol Hill in December that his company had made mistakes, including “not moving fast enough to invest in smaller, more-fuel-efficient vehicles for the U.S. market.” As the old saying goes, imminent death has a way of focusing the mind. An even better consequence of recession, say the Do-Nothings, is that American families are finally starting to pay down the dangerously high debt levels they’ve accumulated. One of the reasons last year’s economic stimulus failed, in fact, was that Americans used the money to pay off bills, not to spend on new products. In a country that had developed a negative personal savings rate, that’s probably a good thing. And here’s something truly surprising: The recession might even be good for your health. The New York Times reported that Americans are drinking less alcohol, noting that a “study based on surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1987 through 1999 found that drinking in this country generally drops during economic hard times, especially among heavy drinkers.” That may be not due to a renewed sense of sobriety and responsibility, but rather to the decline in workers’ discretionary income. Still, liver surgeons will tell you that less drinking is probably healthy. For all that, the Do-Nothings fully expect to lose the argument in Washington this week. The political momentum is all on the side of the stimulus. “Politicians feel a need to validate their own political authority, and they feel they have to do something,” says Robert Romano of the nonprofit group Americans for Limited Government. Nobel Prize-winning economist Edward Prescott of Arizona State University agrees. “Congress has to do what people want, and it’s clear that the people want this stimulus,” Prescott says. “But I just wish the people would tell them: ‘Don’t do it.’”

© 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC This is like a physician prescribing an antibiotic to a patient with a viral infection. It may make the patient feel all warm and fuzzy because he has medicine to treat his runny nose, but, in the end, nature will take care of it. The stimulus will not stimulate anything but the government. I just wish we'd all wake up. Times may get tough, but we'll get through it and prosper even more if we just let capitalism work! Government involvement will only make matters worse. If there is an example of government stepping in and spending it's way out of a massive financial crisis, I'd love to hear about it... I know it's been tested, but everything I've read suggests it leads to a prolonged recession or depression.

Tim Geithner

Creating problems before he's even confirmed, Mr. Geithner has made another poor move... accusing China of manipulating their currency. For someone who was touted as "the only man" to fill the Treasury Secretary seat, he's off to a bumpy start. With the world economy in the shape it's in, now is not the time to pick a fight with other countries... especially China. This is the same country that shipped lead toys to us a year ago, and instead of taking them head on, we chose to burden our resale/consignment shops to scan their inventory before reselling anything (however, once we came to our senses, we realized this move would eventually destroy resale businesses). And furthermore, if China dumps our dollar, our country will be in a world of hurt... and possibly bankrupt. However, we may bankrupt ourselves anyway. We're printing money beyond comprehension; we're spending money we don't have, and we're planning to spend even more. I just don't understand how this doesn't end badly... especially with a dishonest, unethical man running our Treasury Department and the IRS. Turbo Tax is too complicated for him, but he can fix our economy! Whew! Only in America!




WAR OF WORDS
Jan 24th 2009


Economic tensions between America and China are rising--at exactly the
wrong time

TECHNICALLY, he is not yet treasury secretary, but Tim Geithner has
already made waves in financial markets. In a written response to
questions from senators debating his confirmation, Mr Geithner accused
China of "manipulating" its currency and promised that the Obama team
would push "aggressively" for Beijing to change its policies. The sharp
tone and use of the legally-loaded term "currency manipulation"
ricocheted through financial markets as investors shuddered at the
prospect of a Sino-American spat in the midst of a global slump.

Clearly this was not a slip of the tongue. Conceivably it was a
bureaucratic snafu. The tough language came in a 102-page document
answering numerous questions from senators--an odd place from which to
lob a bombshell at Beijing. If so, it speaks poorly of a man who is
already in trouble for failing to pay attention to his taxes. Most
likely, therefore, Mr Geithner's language suggests a change in
Washington's tactics towards China.

American policymakers have long pushed Beijing to accelerate the
appreciation of the yuan, arguing that China's exchange-rate policy
played a big role in creating the global imbalances and that--both for
the sake of China's economy and the rest of the world--the currency
needs to strengthen. But Hank Paulson's Treasury studiously avoided
accusing Beijing of "currency manipulation", a term that carries legal
implications.

Every six months America's Treasury must publish a list of countries
which it deems to be currency manipulators. Once a country appears on
that list, formal negotiations to end the manipulation must begin. The
Treasury under George Bush, particularly in recent years, preferred a
softer behind-the-scenes approach and refused to brand China a
manipulator. Although Mr Geithner did not commit himself to any
specific action, the use of the m-word suggests Team Obama will take a
tougher line.

Exactly what it means is uncertain. It is not even clear who will
manage America's economic strategy with China (there is some
speculation, for instance, that Hillary Clinton wants the State
Department to take the lead). But there is no doubt that Barack Obama's
economic team includes a number of people who are frustrated with the
world's failure to convince Beijing to strengthen the yuan. Mr Obama
himself supported legislation in the Senate to get tougher on China.
More important, his advisers see tough words now as a prophylactic--a
warning that Beijing must not be tempted to prop up its staggering
economy by weakening the yuan.

Domestic politics is also playing a big role. China's bilateral trade
surplus with America has long been a lightning rod in Congress, and
with unemployment up the protectionist pressure is sure to rise. The
$800 billion stimulus package making its way through Congress already
has dubious "Buy American" measures that demand government spending
should be on American goods. By sounding tough up front, the logic
goes, the Obama team will be better able to diffuse the more extreme
protectionist sentiment.

Unfortunately, this strategy is dangerous on a number of counts. The
basic economic analysis--that a stronger yuan, on a trade-weighted
basis, is necessary to rebalance China's economy away from exports--is
surely right. But the world's immediate problem is a dramatic shortfall
in demand across the globe and that will not be righted by
exchange-rate shifts. Currency movements switch demand between
countries; they do not create it. In the short-term, therefore, the
outlook for the world economy depends on whether governments' stimulus
packages are successful and, right now, team Obama would do better to
focus on the scale, nature and speed of Beijing's stimulus measures
than rant about the currency. What's more, the evidence for currency
manipulation is weakening. Although China still runs a huge
current-account surplus, it is no longer accumulating foreign-exchange
reserves at a rapid clip, as capital is flowing out of the country.

More important, the political calculus could easily misfire.
Domestically, Mr Geithner's comments may simply fan congressional
flames for tougher action on China. Lindsey Graham, a senator who first
pushed for a 27.5% tariff against China in 2005, called the comments
"music to my ears". And Sino-American economic tensions are already
rising as Chinese officials hotly dispute the idea that their savings
surplus had anything to do with the current global mess. (An official
at China's central bank recently called the idea "ridiculous" and an
example of "gangster logic"). Traditionally, Chinese officials do not
respond well to public admonition and, given the scale of China's
economic woes, they are likely to be pricklier now.

The stakes are extremely high. Everyone knows that protectionism and
beggar-thy-neighbour policies exacerbated the Depression. With the
global economy in its most dangerous circumstances since the 1930s,
rising Sino-American tensions is the last thing anyone needs.

Thank you Mr. Tiberi!

It's comforting to know my representative "gets it." The stimulus package is a spending bill, full of plans to expand government. I'm sure it will pass, but it's great to know the conservatives stood their ground. So when this bill fails miserably, the conservatives will have a leg to stand on. TAX CUTS stimulate, SPENDING does not! In fact, if spending is the way to go, I'd love to hear a SUCCESSFUL example... as it failed to help us during the Great Depression, failed in Japan in the 90's, and it's actually the reason why we're in this mess to begin with! Just give me an example of a success story, and I might feel a tad better. It's definitely going to be a bumpy ride!

TIBERI STATEMENT ON DEMOCRAT $825 BILLION “STIMULUS” PLAN


Washington, Jan 28 -

U.S. Congressman Pat Tiberi (R-OH) on the H.R.1, the Democrat “Stimulus” Spending Plan:

“This plan is a missed opportunity. We all know something must be done to revitalize our economy, but this looks more like a bloated spending bill than a targeted stimulus plan. Passing a bill that nearly doubles the size of our domestic budget is not the path to fix our economy; it’s the way to saddle our children and our grandchildren with more than a trillion dollars in additional debt, making it more difficult for our nation to prosper in the future.

“I hope the president is true to his word; that this bill was the first step in the process to boost our economy. I hope as we move forward we can put the best ideas together to create not just a spending bill, but a bill that puts more money back in Ohio families’ wallets and back in the hands of small businesses, while creating jobs to revive our economy.

“In addition, our economic downturn started with the housing crisis and snowballed from there. In order to cure what ails us and not just put a band-aid on the problem, we must do more to address the housing crisis before we focus on non-stimulative projects. Americans voted for change a few months ago and this bill is just more of the same big Washington spending.”

U.S. Congressman Pat Tiberi is Ohio’s only member to sit on the prestigious Ways and Means Committee where he is the Ranking Member of the subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures. Congressman Tiberi represents Ohio’s 12th Congressional District which includes Delaware County, and parts of Franklin and Licking Counties in Central Ohio.

Economic Stimulus Plan

I don't believe I'd call this a "stimulus" plan; only 3% of the funds will be injected into the economy in the first 12 months... how does that "stimulate" our economy? And with 4.9 billion dollars planned for community organizations like ACORN, it appears Mr. Obama is funding his troops to ensure a second term... keep in mind this organization is currently being investigated in nearly a dozen states for voter fraud. And I'm sure the 1 billion planned for Amtrak will be money well spent, as they haven't turned a profit in over 40 years. And billions and billions for food stamps, housing assistant administered by HUD, Medicaid benefits, unemployment benefits...etc., etc. This is a spending package to socialism- NOT a stimulus package. He's catering to many of his voters... making it comfortable to be poor and letting the government take care of their needs. In fact, there's even billions set aside to bring broadband access to rural communites. If Mr. Obama really wants to stimulate the economy, he would provide substantial tax cuts to all Americans. History has proven spending doesn't work!!! FDR tried it, and our country was the only country in the world that suffered a "Great Depression" while other countries struggled through a depression. And keep in mind, the original "New Deal" was created by Progressives who based their initiatives on Stalin's Russia... if Mr. Obama's plan for "change" is socialism, I wish he'd be upfront and honest with us. We're nationalizing our banks, we're bailing out our auto industry, nationalized healthcare is next... government is getting TOO big!

COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
DAVE OBEY (D-WI), CHAIRMAN

For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Contact: Kirstin Brost, 202-225-2771

SUMMARY: AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT
Action and Action Now!

The economy is in a crisis not seen since the Great Depression.

Credit is frozen, consumer purchasing power is in decline, in the last four months the country has lost 2 million
jobs and we are expected to lose another 3 to 5 million in the next year.

Conservative economist Mark Zandi was blunt: “the economy is shutting down.”

In the next two weeks, the Congress will be considering the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009.
This package is the first crucial step in a concerted effort to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, jumpstart our
economy, and begin the process of transforming it for the 21st century with $275 billion in economic recovery
tax cuts and $550 billion in thoughtful and carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented
accountability measures built in.

The package contains targeted efforts in:
• Clean, Efficient, American Energy
• Transforming our Economy with Science and Technology
• Modernizing Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways
• Education for the 21st Century
• Tax Cuts to Make Work Pay and Create Jobs
• Lowering Healthcare Costs
• Helping Workers Hurt by the Economy
• Saving Public Sector Jobs and Protect Vital Services

The economy is in such trouble that, even with passage of this package, unemployment rates are expected to
rise to between eight and nine percent this year. Without this package, we are warned that unemployment could
explode to near twelve percent. With passage of this package, we will face a large deficit for years to come.
Without it, those deficits will be devastating and we face the risk of economic chaos. Tough choices have been
made in this legislation and fiscal discipline will demand more tough choices in years to come.

Since 2001, as worker productivity went up, 96% of the income growth in this country went to the wealthiest
10% of society. While they were benefitting from record high worker productivity, the remaining 90% of
Americans were struggling to sustain their standard of living. They sustained it by borrowing... and
borrowing... and borrowing, and when they couldn’t borrow anymore, the bottom fell out. This plan will
strengthen the middle class, not just Wall Street CEOs and special interests in Washington.

Our short term task is to try to prevent the loss of millions of jobs and get our economy moving. The long term
task is to make the needed investments that restore the ability of average middle income families to increase
their income and build a decent future for their children.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Unprecedented Accountability: A historic level of transparency, oversight and accountability will help
guarantee taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and Americans can see results for their investment.
• In many instances funds are distributed through existing formulas to programs with proven track records
and accountability measures already in place.
• How funds are spent, all announcements of contract and grant competitions and awards, and formula grant
allocations must be posted on a special website created by the President. Program managers will also be
listed so the public knows who to hold accountable.
• Public notification of funding must include a description of the investment funded, the purpose, the total
cost and why the activity should be funded with recovery dollars. Governors, mayors or others making
funding decisions must personally certify that the investment has been fully vetted and is an appropriate use
of taxpayer dollars. This will also be placed on the recovery website.
• A Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board will be created to review management of recovery
dollars and provide early warning of problems. The seven member board includes Inspectors General and
Deputy Cabinet secretaries.
• The Government Accountability Office and the Inspectors General are provided additional funding and
access for special review of recovery funding.
• State and local whistleblowers who report fraud and abuse are protected.
• There are no earmarks in this package.

This plan targets investments to key areas that will create and preserve good jobs at the same time as it is
strengthening the ability of this economy to become more efficient and produce more opportunities for
employment.

Clean, Efficient, American Energy: To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign
oil tomorrow, we will strengthen efforts directed at doubling renewable energy production and renovate public
buildings to make them more energy efficient.
• $32 billion to transform the nation’s energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by allowing
for a smarter and better grid and focusing investment in renewable technology.
• $16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficiency retrofits.
• $6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes.

Transform our Economy with Science and Technology: We need to put scientists to work looking for the
next great discovery, creating jobs in cutting-edge-technologies, and making smart investments that will help
businesses in every community succeed in a global economy. For every dollar invested in broadband the
economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment.
• $10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation.
• $6 billion to expand broadband internet access so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link
up to the global economy.

Modernize Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways: To build a 21st century economy, we must engage
contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, modernize public
buildings, and put people to work cleaning our air, water and land.
• $30 billion for highway construction;
• $31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long term
energy cost savings;
• $19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments;
• $10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.

Education for the 21st Century: To enable more children to learn in 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries
to help our kids compete with any worker in the world, this package provides:
• $41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School
Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion).
• $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to local school
districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $15
billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states
for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.
• $15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500.
• $6 billion for higher education modernization.

Tax Cuts to Make Work Pay and Create Jobs: We will provide direct tax relief to 95 percent of American
workers, and spur investment and job growth for American Businesses. [marked up by the Ways and Means
Committee]

Lower Healthcare Costs: To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our
healthcare system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce healthcare costs by billions of
dollars each year.
• $20 billion for health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients
and introduce cost-saving efficiencies.
• $4.1 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments.

Help Workers Hurt by the Economy: High unemployment and rising costs have outpaced Americans’
paychecks. We will help workers train and find jobs, and help struggling families make ends meet.
• $43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training.
• $39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer
provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid.
• $20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.

Save Public Sector Jobs and Protect Vital Services: We will provide relief to states, so they can continue to
employ teachers, firefighters and police officers and provide vital services without having to unnecessarily raise
middle class taxes.
• $87 billion for a temporary increase in the Medicaid matching rate.
• $4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.




CREATE JOBS WITH CLEAN, EFFICIENT, AMERICAN ENERGY
To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will make
investments aimed at doubling renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more
energy efficient. America’s energy shortcomings present a huge opportunity to put people to work in ways that
will transform our economy.

• Reliable, Efficient Electricity Grid: $11 billion for research and development, pilot projects, and federal
matching funds for the Smart Grid Investment Program to modernize the electricity grid making it more
efficient, secure, and reliable and build new power lines to transmit clean, renewable energy from sources
throughout the nation.
• Renewable Energy Loan Guarantees: $8 billion for loans for renewable energy power generation and
transmission projects.
• GSA Federal Buildings: $6.7 billion for renovations and repairs to federal buildings including at least $6
billion focused on increasing energy efficiency and conservation. Projects are selected based on GSA’s
ready-to-go priority list.
• Local Government Energy Efficiency Block Grants: $6.9 billion to help state and local governments
make investments that make them more energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions.
• Energy Efficiency Housing Retrofits: $2.5 billion for a new program to upgrade HUD sponsored low-
income housing to increase energy efficiency, including new insulation, windows, and furnaces. Funds will
be competitively awarded.
• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Research: $2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable
energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities to foster energy independence,
reduce carbon emissions, and cut utility bills. Funds are awarded on a competitive basis to universities,
companies, and national laboratories.
• Advanced Battery Loans and Grants: $2 billion for the Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee and Grants
Program, to support U.S. manufacturers of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems. America should
lead the world in transforming the way automobiles are powered.
• Energy Efficiency Grants and Loans for Institutions: $1.5 billion for energy sustainability and efficiency
grants and loans to help school districts, institutes of higher education, local governments, and municipal
utilities implement projects that will make them more energy efficient.
• Home Weatherization: $6.2 billion to help low-income families reduce their energy costs by weatherizing
their homes and make our country more energy efficient.
• Smart Appliances: $300 million to provide consumers with rebates for buying energy efficient Energy Star
products to replace old appliances, which will lower energy bills.
• GSA Federal Fleet: $600 million to replace older vehicles owned by the federal government with
alternative fuel automobiles that will save on fuel costs and reduce carbon emissions.
• Electric Transportation: $200 million for a new grant program to encourage electric vehicle technologies.
• Cleaning Fossil Energy: $2.4 billion for carbon capture and sequestration technology demonstration
projects. This funding will provide valuable information necessary to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide
emitted into the atmosphere from industrial facilities and fossil fuel power plants.
• Department of Defense Research: $350 million for research into using renewable energy to power
weapons systems and military bases.
• Alternative Buses and Trucks: $400 million to help state and local governments purchase efficient
alternative fuel vehicles to reduce fuel costs and carbon emissions.
• Industrial Energy Efficiency: $500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.
• Diesel Emissions Reduction: $300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects
that reduce diesel emissions, benefiting public health and reducing global warming. This includes
technologies to retrofit emission exhaust systems on school buses, replace engines and vehicles, and
establish anti-idling programs. 70% of the funds go to competitive grants and 30% funds grants to states
with approved programs. Last year EPA was able to fund only 27% of the applications received.

TRANSFORMING OUR ECONOMY WITH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
We need to put scientists to work looking for the next great discovery, create jobs in cutting-edge technologies
and making smart investments that will help businesses in every community succeed in a global economy.

Broadband to Give Every Community Access to the Global Economy
• Wireless and Broadband Grants: $6 billion for broadband and wireless services in underserved areas to
strengthen the economy and provide business and job opportunities in every section of America with
benefits to e-commerce, education, and healthcare. For every dollar invested in broadband the economy
sees a ten-fold return on that investment.

Scientific Research
• National Science Foundation: $3 billion, including $2 billion for expanding employment opportunities in
fundamental science and engineering to meet environmental challenges and to improve global economic
competitiveness, $400 million to build major research facilities that perform cutting edge science, $300
million for major research equipment shared by institutions of higher education and other scientists, $200
million to repair and modernize science and engineering research facilities at the nation’s institutions of
higher education and other science labs, and $100 million is also included to improve instruction in science,
math and engineering.
• National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research: $2 billion, including $1.5 billion for expanding good
jobs in biomedical research to study diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, and heart disease -
NIH is currently able to fund less than 20% of approved applications – and $500 million to implement the
repair and improvement strategic plan developed by the NIH for its campuses.
• University Research Facilities: $1.5 billion for NIH to renovate university research facilities and help
them compete for biomedical research grants. The National Science Foundation estimates a maintenance
backlog of $3.9 billion in biological science research space. Funds are awarded competitively.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: $462 million to enable CDC to complete its Buildings and
Facilities Master Plan, as well as renovations and construction needs of the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health.
• Department of Energy: $1.9 billion for basic research into the physical sciences including high-energy
physics, nuclear physics, and fusion energy sciences and improvements to DOE laboratories and scientific
facilities. $400 million is for the Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy to support high-risk, high-
payoff research into energy sources and energy efficiency.
• NASA: $600 million, including $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research,
including Earth science research recommended by the National Academies, satellite sensors that measure
solar radiation critical to understanding climate change, and a thermal infrared sensor to the Landsat
Continuing Mapper necessary for water management, particularly in the western states; $150 million for
research, development, and demonstration to improve aviation safety and Next Generation air traffic control
(NextGen); and $50 million to repair NASA centers damaged by hurricanes and floods last year.
• Biomedical Advanced Research and Development, Pandemic Flu, and Cyber Security: $900 million to
prepare for a pandemic influenza, support advanced development of medical countermeasures for chemical,
biological, radiological, and nuclear threats, and for cyber security protections at HHS.
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellites and Sensors: $600 million for satellite
development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.
• National Institute of Standards and Technology: $300 million for competitive construction grants for
research science buildings at colleges, universities, and other research organizations and $100 million to
coordinate research efforts of laboratories and national research facilities by setting interoperability
standards for manufacturing.
• Agricultural Research Service: $209 million for agricultural research facilities across the country. ARS
has a list of deferred maintenance work at facilities of roughly $315 million.
• U.S. Geological Survey: $200 million to repair and modernize U.S.G.S. science facilities and equipment,
including improvements to laboratories, earthquake monitoring systems, and computing capacity.

Creating Small Business Opportunity
• Small Business Credit: $430 million for new direct lending and loan guarantee authorities to make loans
more attractive to lenders and free up capital. The number of loans guaranteed under the SBA’s 7(a)
business loan program was down 57% in the first quarter of this year compared to last.
• Rural Business-Cooperative Service: $100 million for rural business grants and loans to guarantee $2
billion in loans for rural businesses at a time of unprecedented demand due to the credit crunch. Private
sector lenders are increasingly turning to this program to help businesses get access to capital.
• Industrial Technology Services: $100 million, including $70 million for the Technology Innovation
Program to accelerate research in potentially revolutionary technologies with high job growth potential, and
$30 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships to help small and mid-size manufacturers
compete globally by providing them with access to technology.
• Economic Development Assistance: $250 million to address long-term economic distress in urban
industrial cores and rural areas distributed based on need and ability to create jobs and attract private
investment. EDA leverages $10 in private investments for $1 in federal funds.

DTV Conversion Coupons: $650 million to continue the coupon program to enable American households to
convert from analog television transmission to digital transmission.


MODERNIZE ROADS, BRIDGES, TRANSIT AND WATERWAYS
To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs - rebuilding our
crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing public buildings, and putting people to work cleaning our air, water,
and land.

Highway Infrastructure: $30 billion for highway and bridge construction projects. It is estimated that states
have over 5,100 projects totaling over $64 billion that could be awarded within 180 days. These projects create
jobs in the short term while saving commuters time and money in the long term. In 2006, the Department of
Transportation estimated $8.5 billion was needed to maintain current systems and $61.4 billion was needed to
improve highways and bridges.

Transit: Public transportation saves Americans time and money, saving as much as 4.2 billion gallons of
gasoline and reducing carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons each year.
• New Construction: $1 billion for Capital Investment Grants for new commuter rail or other light rail
systems to increase public use of mass transit and to speed projects already in construction. The Federal
Transit Administration has $2.4 billion in pre-approved projects.
• Upgrades and Repair: $2 billion to modernize existing transit systems, including renovations to stations,
security systems, computers, equipment, structures, signals, and communications. Funds will be distributed
through the existing formula. The repair backlog is nearly $50 billion.
• Transit Capital Assistance: $6 billion to purchase buses and equipment needed to increase public
transportation and improve intermodal and transit facilities. The Department of Transportation estimates a
$3.2 billion maintenance backlog and $9.2 billion in needed improvements. The American Public
Transportation Association identified 787 ready-to-go transit projects totaling $15.5 billion. Funds will be
distributed through the existing formulas.

Amtrak and Intercity Passenger Rail Construction Grants: $1.1 billion to improve the speed and capacity
of intercity passenger rail service. The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General estimates the North
East Corridor alone has a backlog of over $10 billion.

Airport Improvement Grants: $3 billion for airport improvement projects that will improve safety and reduce
congestion. An estimated $41 billion in eligible airport infrastructure projects are needed between 2007-2011.

Transportation Security Administration Explosive Detection Systems: $500 million to install Aviation
Explosive Detection Systems in the nation’s airports, improving security, and making life easier on travelers by
speeding security lines. Funds are competitively awarded based on security risk.

Coast Guard Bridges: $150 million for ready-to-go investments to repair or remove bridges deemed hazardous
to marine navigation, thereby removing obstructions and improving the safety of marine navigation.

Technology Improvements for a More Efficient and Secure Government
• Social Security Administration Modernization: $400 million to replace the 30 year old Social Security
Administration’s National Computer Center to meet growing needs for processing retirement and disability
claims and records storage.
• Farm Service Agency: $245 million for critical IT improvements to systems that have been unable to
handle workload increases.
• State Department Technology: $276 million to upgrade and modernize information technology platforms
for the Department to meet security requirements post-9/11.
• Department of Agriculture: $44 million for repairs and security improvements at USDA’s headquarters.

Department of Defense Facilities
• Medical Facilities: $3.75 billion for new construction of hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, and
$455 million in renovations to provide state-of-the-art medical care to service members and their families.
• Facilities Renovations: $2.1 billion to address needed repairs to military facilities.
• Troop Housing: $1.2 billion for new construction and $154 million for renovations to improve housing for
our troops.
• Child Development Center: $360 million for new child development centers.
• Guard and Reserve: $400 million for new construction to support Guard and Reserve units across the
country with operations and training facilities and utilities infrastructure.

Veterans Administration Facilities
• Veterans Medical Facilities: $950 million for veterans’ medical facilities. The Department has identified a
$5 billion backlog in needed repairs, including energy efficiency projects, at its 153 medical facilities.
• Veterans Cemeteries: $50 million to put people to work making monument and memorial repairs at
cemeteries for American heroes.

Border Ports of Entry: $1.15 billion to construct GSA and Customs and Border Patrol land ports of entry to
improve border security, make trade and travel easier and reduce wait times, and to procure non-intrusive
inspection technology at sea ports of entry, which is used to scan cargo containers to reduce the risk that
containers can be used to smuggle weapons of mass destruction.

Job Corps Facilities: $300 million to upgrade job training facilities serving at-risk youth while improving
energy efficiency.

Construction on Public Lands and Parks: $3.1 billion for infrastructure projects on federal lands including
improvements to visitor facilities, road and trail restoration, preservation of buildings of cultural and historic
importance, rehabilitation of abandoned mines and oil fields, and environmental cleanup projects. This includes
$1.8 billion for the National Park Service, $325 million for the Bureau of Land Management, $300 million for
the National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries, and $650 million for the Forest Service.

National Treasures: $400 million, including $200 million to address the deterioration of the National Mall,
such as repair of the Jefferson Memorial’s collapsing Tidal Basin walls; $150 million to address the repair
backlog at the Smithsonian; and $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Clean Water
• Clean Water State Revolving Fund: $6 billion for loans to help communities upgrade wastewater
treatment systems. EPA estimates a $388 billion funding gap. The Association of State and Interstate
Water Pollution Control Administrators found that 26 states have $10 billion in approved water projects.
• Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: $2 billion for loans for drinking water infrastructure. EPA
estimates there is a $274 billion funding gap. The National Governors Association reported that there are $6
billion in ready-to-go projects, which could quickly be obligated.
• Rural Water and Waste Disposal: $1.5 billion to support $3.8 billion in grants and loans to help
communities fund drinking water and wastewater treatment systems. In 2008, there were $2.4 billion in
requests for water and waste loans and $990 million for water and waste grants went unfunded.

Water Resources
• Corps of Engineers: $4.5 billion for environmental restoration, flood protection, hydropower, and
navigation infrastructure critical to the economy. The Corps has a construction backlog of $61 billion.
• Bureau of Reclamation: $500 million to provide clean, reliable drinking water to rural areas and to ensure
adequate water supply to western localities impacted by drought. The Bureau has backlogs of more than $1
billion in rural water projects and water reuse and recycling projects.
• Watershed Infrastructure: $400 million for the Natural Resources Conservation Service watershed
improvement programs to design and build flood protection and water quality projects, repair aging dams,
and purchase and restore conservation easements in river flood zones.
• International Boundary and Water Commission: $224 million to repair flood control systems along the
international segment of the Rio Grande damaged by hurricane Katrina and other serious storms.

Environmental Cleanup
• Superfund Hazardous Waste Cleanup: $800 million to clean up hazardous and toxic waste sites that
threaten health and the environment. EPA has 1,255 sites on its National Priority List, selected based on a
hazard ranking system. There are many Superfund sites ready for construction, but not funded due to
budget shortfalls and over 600 sites with ongoing construction that could be accelerated.
• Leaking Underground Storage Tanks: $200 million for enforcement and cleanup of petroleum leaks from
underground storage tanks at approximately 1,600 additional sites. There are an estimated 116,000 sites
with the potential to contaminate important water supplies.
• Nuclear Waste Cleanup: $500 million for nuclear waste cleanup at sites contaminated as a result of the
nation’s past nuclear activities. Accelerating the completion of projects will reduce long-term costs.
• Closed Military Bases: $300 million for cleanup activities at closed military installations allowing local
communities to redevelop these properties for productive use. The Department estimates that there is a $3.5
billion environmental cleanup backlog at bases closed during previous BRAC rounds.
• NOAA Habitat Restoration: $400 million for ready-to-go habitat restoration projects.
• Brownfields: $100 million for competitive grants for evaluation and cleanup of former industrial and
commercial sites - turning them from problem properties to productive community use. Last year EPA was
only able to fund 37% of Brownfields applications.

Reducing Wildfires Threats: $850 million for hazardous fuels removal and other efforts to prevent wildfires
on public lands. Making these investments today will create jobs in the short run, but also save long term costs
of fighting fires in the future.
• State and Private Forest Service Wildfire: $550 million for state and local volunteer programs and
hazardous fuels reduction efforts which states and communities have determined are of the highest priority.
• Federal Forest Service Wildfire: $300 million for urgently needed hazard reduction on federal lands.

Bureau of Indian Affairs: $500 million to address maintenance backlogs at schools, dams, detention and law
enforcement facilities, and over 24,000 miles of roads. BIA schools alone have an over $1 billion construction
and maintenance backlog including shamefully unsafe conditions.


EDUCATION FOR THE 21st CENTURY
We will put people to work building 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries to help our kids compete with
any worker in the world.

21st Century Classrooms
• School Construction: $20 billion, including $14 billion for K-12 and $6 billion for higher education, for
renovation and modernization, including technology upgrades and energy efficiency improvements. Also
includes $100 million for school construction in communities that lack a local property tax base because
they contain non-taxable federal lands such as military bases or Indian reservations, and $25 million to help
charter schools build, obtain, and repair schools.
• Education Technology: $1 billion for 21st century classrooms, including computer and science labs and
teacher technology training.

Higher Education: Tuition is up, unemployment is up, and as a result more people are choosing to go to school
to upgrade their skills and more of these students need student aid. This investment addresses those short term
needs while investing in our nation’s future economic strength.
• Pell Grants: $15.6 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant by $500, from $4,850 to $5,350.
• College Work-Study: $490 million to support undergraduate and graduate students who work.
• Student Loan Limit Increase: Increases limits on unsubsidized Stafford loans by $2,000.
• Student Aid Administration: $50 million to help the Department of Education administer surging student
aid programs while navigating the changing student loan environment.

K-12 Education: As states begin tackling a projected $350 billion in budget shortfalls these investments will
prevent cuts to critical education programs and services.
• IDEA Special Education: $13 billion for formula grants to increase the federal share of special education
costs and prevent these mandatory costs from forcing states to cut other areas of education.
• Title I Help for Disadvantaged Kids: $13 billion for grants to help disadvantaged kids in nearly every
school district and more than half of all public schools reach high academic standards.
• Statewide Data Systems: $250 million for competitive grants to states to design and develop data systems
that analyze individual student data to find ways to improve student achievement, providing teachers and
administrators with effective tools.
• Education for Homeless Children and Youth: $66 million for formula grants to states to provide services
to homeless children including meals and transportation when high unemployment and home foreclosures
have created an influx of homeless kids.
• Improving Teacher Quality: $300 million, including $200 million for competitive grants to school
districts and states to provide financial incentives for teachers and principals who raise student achievement
and close the achievement gaps in high-need schools and $100 million for competitive grants to states to
address teacher shortages and modernize the teaching workforce.

Early Childhood Development
• Child Care Development Block Grant: $2 billion to provide child care services for an additional 300,000
children in low-income families while their parents go to work. Today only one out of seven eligible
children receives care.
• Head Start: $2.1 billion to provide comprehensive development services to help 110,000 additional
children succeed in school. Funds are distributed based on need. Only about half of all eligible
preschoolers and less than 3 percent of eligible infants and toddlers participate in Head Start.
• IDEA Infants and Families: $600 million for formula grants to help states serve children with disabilities
age 2 and younger.


LOWER HEALTHCARE COSTS
To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our healthcare system to cut red
tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce healthcare costs by billions of dollars each year.
• Health Information Technology: $20 billion to jumpstart efforts to computerize health records to cut costs
and reduce medical errors.
• Prevention and Wellness Fund: $3 billion to fight preventable chronic diseases, the leading cause of
deaths in the U.S., and infectious diseases. Preventing disease rather than treating illnesses is the most
effective way to reduce healthcare costs. This includes hospital infection prevention, Preventive Health and
Health Services Block Grants for state and local public health departments, immunization programs, and
evidence-based disease prevention.
• Healthcare Effectiveness Research: $1.1 billion for Healthcare Research and Quality programs to
compare the effectiveness of different medical treatments funded by Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP.
Finding out what works best and educating patients and doctors will improve treatment and save taxpayers
money.
• Community Health Centers: $1.5 billion, including $500 million to increase the number of uninsured
Americans who receive quality healthcare and $1 billion to renovate clinics and make health information
technology improvements. More than 400 applications submitted earlier this year for new or expanded
CHC sites remain unfunded.
• Training Primary Care Providers: $600 million to address shortages and prepare our country for
universal healthcare by training primary healthcare providers including doctors, dentists, and nurses as well
as helping pay medical school expenses for students who agree to practice in underserved communities
through the National Health Service Corps.
• Indian Health Service Facilities: $550 million to modernize aging hospitals and health clinics and make
healthcare technology upgrades to improve healthcare for underserved rural populations.


HELP WORKERS HURT BY THE ECONOMY
High unemployment and rising costs have outpaced Americans’ paychecks. We will help workers train and
find jobs, and help struggling families make ends meet.

Helping Workers Find Jobs
• Training and Employment Services: $4 billion for job training including formula grants for adult,
dislocated worker, and youth services (including $1.2 billion to create up to one million summer jobs for
youth). The needs of workers also will be met through dislocated worker national emergency grants, new
competitive grants for worker training in high growth and emerging industry sectors (with priority
consideration to “green” jobs and healthcare), and increased funds for the YouthBuild program. Green jobs
training will include preparing workers for activities supported by other economic recovery funds, such as
retrofitting of buildings, green construction, and the production of renewable electric power.
• Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants: $500 million for state formula grants for construction and
rehabilitation of facilities to help persons with disabilities prepare for gainful employment.
• Employment Services Grants: $500 million to match unemployed individuals to job openings through
state employment service agencies and allow states to provide customized services. Funds are targeted to
states with the greatest need based on labor force, unemployment, and long-term unemployed rates.
• Community Service Employment for Older Americans: $120 million to provide subsidized community
service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans.

Unemployment Insurance Benefits
• Benefits Extension: $27 billion to continue the current extended unemployment benefits program – which
provides up to 33 weeks of extended benefits - through December 31, 2009 given rising unemployment.
• Increased Benefits: $9 billion to increase the current average unemployment insurance benefit from
roughly $300 per week, paid out of State trust funds, by $25 per week using Federal funds, through
December 2009. There are currently 5.3 million workers receiving regular UI and an additional 1.9 million
receiving extended benefits.
• Unemployment Insurance Modernization: Provides funds to states though a “Reed Act” distribution, tied
to states’ meeting specific reforms to increase unemployment insurance coverage for low-wage, part-time,
and other jobless workers.

COBRA Healthcare for the Unemployed: $30.3 billion to extend health insurance coverage to the
unemployed, extending the period of COBRA coverage for older and tenured workers beyond the 18 months
provided under current law. Specifically, workers 55 and older, and workers who have worked for an employer
for 10 or more years will be able to retain their COBRA coverage until they become Medicare eligible or secure
coverage through a subsequent employer. In addition, subsidizing the first 12 months of COBRA coverage for
eligible persons who have lost their jobs on or after September 1, 2008 at a 65 percent subsidy rate, the same
rate provided under the Health Care Tax Credit for unemployed workers under the Trade Adjustment
Assistance program. [Ways and Means]

Medicaid Coverage for the Unemployed: Provides 100 percent federal funding through 2010 for optional
State Medicaid coverage of individuals (and their dependents) who are receiving unemployment benefits or
have exhausted those benefits and have no health insurance coverage. Other optional coverage groups are
individuals (and their dependents) who are involuntarily unemployed and uninsured and whose family income
does not exceed 200 percent of poverty, and unemployed uninsured individuals who are receiving food stamps.”

Attacking the Housing Crisis
• Public Housing Capital Fund: $5 billion for building repair and modernization, including critical safety
repairs. Every dollar of Capital Fund expenditures produces $2.12 in economic return. $4 billion of the
funds will be distributed to public housing authorities through the existing formula and $1 billion will be
awarded through a competitive process for projects that improve energy efficiency.
• HOME Investment Partnerships: $1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-
income housing using green technologies. Thousands of ready-to-go housing projects have been stalled by
the credit crunch. Funds are distributed by formula.
• Native American Housing Block Grants: $500 million to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency at
some of the over 42,000 housing units maintained by Native American housing programs. Half of the
funding will be distributed by formula and half will be competitively awarded to projects that can be started
quickly.
• Neighborhood Stabilization: $4.2 billion to help communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant
properties in order to create more affordable housing and reduce neighborhood blight.
• Homeless Assistance Grants: $1.5 billion for the Emergency Shelter Grant program to provide short term
rental assistance, housing relocation, and stabilization services for families during the economic crisis.
Funds are distributed by formula.
• Rural Housing Insurance Fund: $500 million to support $22 billion in direct loans and loan guarantees to
help rural families and individuals buy homes during the credit crunch. Last year these programs received
$13.4 billion more in applications than they could fund.
• Self-Help and Assisted Homeownership Program: $10 million for rural, high-need areas to undertake
projects using sustainable and energy-efficient building and rehabilitation practices. Funds will be awarded
by competition to projects that can begin quickly.
• Lead Paint: $100 million for competitive grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations to
remove lead-based paint hazards in low-income housing.
• Rural Community Facilities: $200 million to support $1.2 billion in grants and loans to rural areas for
critical community facilities, such as for healthcare, education, fire and rescue, day care, community centers,
and libraries. There are over $1.2 billion in applications pending.

Alleviating Hunger
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance: $20 billion to provide nutrition assistance to modest-income families
and to lift restrictions that limit the amount of time individuals can receive food stamps.
• Senior Nutrition Programs: $200 million for formula grants to states for elderly nutrition services
including Meals on Wheels and Congregate Meals.
• Afterschool Meals: $726 million to increase the number of states that provide free dinners to children and
to encourage participation by new institutions by increasing snack reimbursement rates.
• Supplemental Nutrition Program Information Systems: $100 million to improve state management
information systems for the WIC program.

Payments to Disabled and Elderly: $4.2 billion to help 7.5 million low-income disabled and elderly
individuals with rising costs by providing an additional SSI payment in 2009 equal to the average monthly
federal payment under the program (approximately $450 for an individual and $630 for a couple). This one-
time payment will serve as an immediate economic stimulus as half of SSI recipients have no other form of
income and the other half average outside income of less than $450 per month.

Community Services Block Grant: $1 billion for grants to local communities to support employment, food,
housing, and healthcare efforts serving those hardest hit by the recession. Community action agencies have
seen dramatic increases in requests for their assistance due to rising unemployment, housing foreclosures, and
high food and fuel prices.

Community Development Block Grants: $1 billion for community and economic development projects
including housing and services for those hit hard by tough economic times.

Emergency Food and Shelter: $200 million to help local community organizations provide food, shelter, and
support services to the nation’s hungry, homeless, and people in economic crisis including one-month utility
payments to prevent service cut-off and one-month rent or mortgage assistance to prevent evictions or help
people leave shelters. Funds are distributed by formula based on unemployment and poverty rates.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance: $1 billion to help low-income families pay for home heating and
cooling at a time of rising energy costs.

Child Support Enforcement: $1 billion to provide federal incentive funds for states to collect support owed to
families.

Social Security Administration Disability Backlog and Claims Processing: $500 million to help the Social
Security Administration process a steep rise in disability and retirement claims, getting people their benefits
faster, and preventing existing backlogs from getting worse. Within this total, $40 million will help SSI
upgrade health information technology.

Centers for Independent Living: $200 million for state formula grants to help individuals with disabilities
continue to live in their communities.

AmeriCorps Programs: $200 million to put approximately 16,000 additional AmeriCorps members to work
doing national service, meeting needs of vulnerable populations and communities during the recession.

Compassion Capital Fund: $100 million for grants to faith- and community-based organizations to provide
critical safety net services to needy individuals and families.

Department of Labor Worker Protection and Oversight: $80 million to ensure that worker protection laws
are enforced as recovery infrastructure investments are carried out.


SAVE PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS AND PROTECT VITAL SERVICES
We will provide relief to states, so they can continue to employ teachers, firefighters, and police officers and
provide vital services without having to unnecessarily raise middle class taxes.

Medicaid Aid to States (FMAP): Approximately $87 billion to states, increasing through the end of FY 2010
the share of Medicaid costs the federal government reimburses states, with additional relief tied to rates of
unemployment. In the previous recession the federal government increased its contribution to Medicaid to help
states avoid cuts in health benefits at a time when low-income patient loads are increasing and State revenues
are declining.

State Education and Other Budget Priorities: $120 billion to states and school districts to stabilize budgets
and prevent tax increases and deep cuts to critical education programs, including:
• $41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School
Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion).
• $79 billion in state fiscal relief, including: $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and
universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas; $15 billion to states as bonus grants as a
reward for meeting key performance measures; and $25 billion to states for other high priority needs such as
public safety and other critical services, which may include education.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: $2.5 billion for block grants to help States deal with the surge in
families needing help during the recession and to prevent them from cutting work programs and services for
abused and neglected children.

State and Local Law Enforcement: $4 billion to support state and local law enforcement including $3 billion
for the Byrne Justice Assistance formula grants to support local law enforcement efforts with equipment and
operating costs, and $1 billion for the COPS hiring grant program, to hire about 13,000 new police officers for
three years. The grantee is responsible for at least 25% in matching funds and must commit to use their own
funds to keep the officer on board in the fourth year.

Periodic Census and Programs, Communications: $1 billion for work necessary to ensure a successful 2010
census, including $150 million for expanded communications and outreach programs to minimize
undercounting of minority groups.


OTHER IMPORTANT POLICY PROVISION

Medicare and Medicaid Regulations: The bill extends the moratorium on Medicaid and Medicare regulations.