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.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, January 26, 2009
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.
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONSDAVE 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.
2008 Election Results
2008 Election Results:
(22 red states/28 blue states)
46% to McCain
Alaska
Arizona
Utah
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia
Tennessee
Kentucky
West Virginia
South Carolina
53% to Obama
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Delaware
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New Jersey
Maryland
Washington DC
New York
Pennsylvania
Virginia
North Carolina
Ohio
Indiana
Michigan
Illinois
Hawaii
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota
Colorado
New Mexico
Nevada
California
Washington
Oregon
(22 red states/28 blue states)
46% to McCain
Alaska
Arizona
Utah
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia
Tennessee
Kentucky
West Virginia
South Carolina
53% to Obama
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Delaware
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New Jersey
Maryland
Washington DC
New York
Pennsylvania
Virginia
North Carolina
Ohio
Indiana
Michigan
Illinois
Hawaii
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota
Colorado
New Mexico
Nevada
California
Washington
Oregon
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Campbell Brown- transparency in govt?
copy & paste:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/01/23/cb.cttb.lobbyists.cnn
bravo Campbell Brown!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/01/23/cb.cttb.lobbyists.cnn
bravo Campbell Brown!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Stimulus Plan & Keynesian Economics
Morning Bell: Nothing Temporary About This Stimulus Spending
Posted January 23rd, 2009 at 9.15am in Ongoing Priorities.
Pushing for deficit spending as part of his own economic stimulus package in 1971, President Richard Nixon famously told ABC News, “I am now a Keynesian in economics.” Increasingly, it seems that everyone on Capitol Hill is adopting Nixon’s economic views … but a thousand times worse. Where Nixon wanted to deficit spend by mere billions, President Barack Obama wants to deficit spend in the trillions.
Keynesian theory, suddenly back in style, holds that government can stimulate economic growth by temporarily increasing government spending. Problem is, there was nothing temporary about increases in government spending under Nixon — and there is nothing temporary about the trillion dollars in new spending being debated in Congress.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) yesterday told Politico: “Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.” The House bill perfectly demonstrates how the left is using the economic stimulus bill as cover to accomplish its long-held desire to permanently increase the size of the federal government, with little or no benefit to the American taxpayer.
Today’s top six disastrous highlights are:
1. Medicaid Bailout: The House bill includes an $87 billion bailout for state Medicaid spending. Supposedly, this federal spigot will expire in two years. But there is simply no reason to believe states will be prepared to meet their Medicaid obligations any more in 2011 than they are today. Medicaid is funded by a formula that matches state spending levels with federal dollars. If we keep bailing states out, they will have every incentive to continue irresponsible spending. For example, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) significantly expanded health care spending in Illinois while Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) prudently made “hard choices” to maintain adequate reserves. When the bailout comes, Indiana taxpayers are going to have to pay for the Illinois governor’s mistakes.
2. Medicaid Expansion: The House bill expands Medicaid eligibility to cover unemployed workers whose income does not exceed 200% of the Federal Poverty Line. This provision is supposed to expire in two years, but does anyone really expect political will at the state or federal levels to kick new populations off the Medicaid rolls once states put them on? No. States will push for indefinte expansion of the program and neither the White House nor this congressional leadership is ideologically predisposed to say no. Mark our words, this is a permanent expansion.
3. Family Planning Loophole: Section 5004 of the Medicaid expansion includes language that smuggles the left’s social agenda into law under the guise of stimulus. This section undercuts parental authority, increases control over taxpayer dollars by family planning clinics, and expands exactly who is eligible to receive the benefits. Contrary to current law, the income of parents or even a spouse would not be counted in determining eligibility. So a child in a family at any income level could be eligible for free family planning services. And thanks to a “presumptive eligibility period” in the legislation, no parent ever needs to be notified that his or her child applied for Medicaid. Finally, applicants would not have to prove citizenship before “presumptive eligibility” is determined.
4. Education Bailout: The House bill creates a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to help states pay for public services, 61% of which must be spent on education. Not only does this money encourage states not to make tough budgeting decisions, it also comes with new federal restrictions designed to please leftist constituencies. For example, the bill forbids bailout funds to increase school choice by specifying that “no recipient of funds under this title shall use funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools.”
5. Education Shopping Spree: Besides that $79 billion, the House bill includes more spending for a slew of other programs, bringing the total price tag for education “stimulus” to $142 billion. Winners of this round include $1 billion for Technology Education, $1.5 billion for Pell Grants, $6 billion for higher education institutions, $2.1 billion for Head Start, $2.5 billion for the National Science Foundation, and $2 billion in Child Care Development Block Grants. Are any of these increases intended to be temporary? Can you imagine Democrats in Congress standing up to cut Head Start and Pell Grant funding in two years? Of course not. This $142 billion increase in education spending would nearly double total outlays in 2007 for the Department of Education.
6. New Jobs? President Obama has said the stimulus could create as many as 3 million jobs, but Speaker Pelosi said yesterday that 4 million jobs will be created or saved. Yet, when pressed by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) earlier this week, Tax Committee staffer Thomas Barthold could only shrug and admit to having no estimates that any jobs or economic growth would be created. The video is priceless.
Some legislators are beginning to catch on to the left’s game. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says he opposes the Medicaid bailout “because some governors would use the money to mask poor decisions in other portions of their budgets.” Rep. Heath Shuler (D-TN) says he is “concerned about returning fiscal responsibility to Washington” and adds that the stimulus bill “can’t be the pet projects of the House and Senate.”
It’s time to wake up. This stimulus bill is nothing but the permanent implementation of the pet projects of the House and Senate. And that is exactly why Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want you to know what’s in it, and certainly doesn’t want it to be debated. “We’re on our timetable.” she said unapologetically yesterday.
There is nothing temporary about any of the spending increases in this bill. They are all designed to make the American people more dependent on the federal government. And there is nothing stimulating about that. Let’s hope Congress gets on the timetable of the American people before it’s too late.
Obama's Recovery & Reinvestment Plan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/economy/
THE PRESIDENT'S AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN
With each passing day, families across America are watching their bills pile up and their savings disappear.
President Obama believes that if we do not act quickly, this recession could linger for years – and America could lose the competitive edge that has served as the foundation for our strength and standing in the world.
That's why the President has put forth an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will jumpstart job creation and long-term growth by:
- Doubling the production of alternative energy in the next three years.
- Modernizing more than 75% of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills.
- Making the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America’s medical records are computerized.
- Equipping tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries.
- Expanding broadband across America, so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world.
- Investing in the science, research, and technology that will lead to new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and entire new industries.
On January 8th, 2009 -- less than two weeks before taking office -- President Obama spoke on the need for urgent action on his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to save or create over 3 million jobs while investing in priorities like health care, energy, and education that will jumpstart economic growth. The plan represents not just a new policy, but a new approach to meeting our most urgent challenges.
The full text of the President's address is below.
Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Throughout America’s history, there have been some years that simply rolled into the next without much notice or fanfare. Then there are the years that come along once in a generation – the kind that mark a clean break from a troubled past, and set a new course for our nation.
This is one of those years.
We start 2009 in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime – a crisis that has only deepened over the last few weeks. Nearly two million jobs have now been lost, and on Friday we are likely to learn that we lost more jobs last year than at any time since World War II. Just in the past year, another 2.8 million Americans who want and need full-time work have had to settle for part-time jobs. Manufacturing has hit a twenty-eight year low. Many businesses cannot borrow or make payroll. Many families cannot pay their bills or their mortgage. Many workers are watching their life savings disappear. And many, many Americans are both anxious and uncertain of what the future will hold.
I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits. Our economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity, which translates into more than $12,000 in lost income for a family of four. We could lose a generation of potential and promise, as more young Americans are forced to forgo dreams of college or the chance to train for the jobs of the future. And our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and standing in the world.
In short, a bad situation could become dramatically worse.
This crisis did not happen solely by some accident of history or normal turn of the business cycle, and we won’t get out of it by simply waiting for a better day to come, or relying on the worn-out dogmas of the past. We arrived at this point due to an era of profound irresponsibility that stretched from corporate boardrooms to the halls of power in Washington, DC. For years, too many Wall Street executives made imprudent and dangerous decisions, seeking profits with too little regard for risk, too little regulatory scrutiny, and too little accountability. Banks made loans without concern for whether borrowers could repay them, and some borrowers took advantage of cheap credit to take on debt they couldn’t afford. Politicians spent taxpayer money without wisdom or discipline, and too often focused on scoring political points instead of the problems they were sent here to solve. The result has been a devastating loss of trust and confidence in our economy, our financial markets, and our government.
Now, the very fact that this crisis is largely of our own making means that it is not beyond our ability to solve. Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness. It will take time, perhaps many years, but we can rebuild that lost trust and confidence. We can restore opportunity and prosperity. We should never forget that our workers are still more productive than any on Earth. Our universities are still the envy of the world. We are still home to the most brilliant minds, the most creative entrepreneurs, and the most advanced technology and innovation that history has ever known. And we are still the nation that has overcome great fears and improbable odds. If we act with the urgency and seriousness that this moment requires, I know that we can do it again.
That is why I have moved quickly to work with my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will immediately jumpstart job creation and long-term growth.
It’s a plan that represents not just new policy, but a whole new approach to meeting our most urgent challenges. For if we hope to end this crisis, we must end the culture of anything goes that helped create it – and this change must begin in Washington. It is time to trade old habits for a new spirit of responsibility. It is time to finally change the ways of Washington so that we can set a new and better course for America.
There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable. It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short-term. But equally certain are the consequences of doing too little or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in our economy. It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth, but at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy – where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.
That is why we need to act boldly and act now to reverse these cycles. That’s why we need to put money in the pockets of the American people, create new jobs, and invest in our future. That’s why we need to re-start the flow of credit and restore the rules of the road that will ensure a crisis like this never happens again.
That work begins with this plan – a plan I am confident will save or create at least three million jobs over the next few years. It is not just another public works program. It’s a plan that recognizes both the paradox and the promise of this moment – the fact that there are millions of Americans trying to find work, even as, all around the country, there is so much work to be done. That’s why we’ll invest in priorities like energy and education; health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century. That’s why the overwhelming majority of the jobs created will be in the private sector, while our plan will save the public sector jobs of teachers, cops, firefighters and others who provide vital services.
To finally spark the creation of a clean energy economy, we will double the production of alternative energy in the next three years. We will modernize more than 75% of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills. In the process, we will put Americans to work in new jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced – jobs building solar panels and wind turbines; constructing fuel-efficient cars and buildings; and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain.
To improve the quality of our health care while lowering its cost, we will make the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America’s medical records are computerized. This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests. But it just won’t save billions of dollars and thousands of jobs – it will save lives by reducing the deadly but preventable medical errors that pervade our health care system.
To give our children the chance to live out their dreams in a world that’s never been more competitive, we will equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. We’ll provide new computers, new technology, and new training for teachers so that students in Chicago and Boston can compete with kids in Beijing for the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future.
To build an economy that can lead this future, we will begin to rebuild America. Yes, we’ll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges, and schools by eliminating the backlog of well-planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects. But we’ll also do more to retrofit America for a global economy. That means updating the way we get our electricity by starting to build a new smart grid that will save us money, protect our power sources from blackout or attack, and deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation. It means expanding broadband lines across America, so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world. And it means investing in the science, research, and technology that will lead to new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and entire new industries.
Finally, this recovery and reinvestment plan will provide immediate relief to states, workers, and families who are bearing the brunt of this recession. To get people spending again, 95% of working families will receive a $1,000 tax cut – the first stage of a middle-class tax cut that I promised during the campaign and will include in our next budget. To help Americans who have lost their jobs and can’t find new ones, we’ll continue the bipartisan extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage to help them through this crisis. Government at every level will have to tighten its belt, but we’ll help struggling states avoid harmful budget cuts, as long as they take responsibility and use the money to maintain essential services like police, fire, education, and health care.
I understand that some might be skeptical of this plan. Our government has already spent a good deal of money, but we haven’t yet seen that translate into more jobs or higher incomes or renewed confidence in our economy. That’s why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan won’t just throw money at our problems – we’ll invest in what works. The true test of the policies we’ll pursue won’t be whether they’re Democratic or Republican ideas, but whether they create jobs, grow our economy, and put the American Dream within reach of the American people.
Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made transparently, and informed by independent experts wherever possible. Every American will be able to hold Washington accountable for these decisions by going online to see how and where their tax dollars are being spent. And as I announced yesterday, we will launch an unprecedented effort to eliminate unwise and unnecessary spending that has never been more unaffordable for our nation and our children’s future than it is right now.
We have to make tough choices and smart investments today so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. We cannot have a solid recovery if our people and our businesses don’t have confidence that we’re getting our fiscal house in order. That’s why our goal is not to create a slew of new government programs, but a foundation for long-term economic growth.
That also means an economic recovery plan that is free from earmarks and pet projects. I understand that every member of Congress has ideas on how to spend money. Many of these projects are worthy, and benefit local communities. But this emergency legislation must not be the vehicle for those aspirations. This must be a time when leaders in both parties put the urgent needs of our nation above our own narrow interests.
Now, this recovery plan alone will not solve all the problems that led us into this crisis. We must also work with the same sense of urgency to stabilize and repair the financial system we all depend on. That means using our full arsenal of tools to get credit flowing again to families and business, while restoring confidence in our markets. It means launching a sweeping effort to address the foreclosure crisis so that we can keep responsible families in their homes. It means preventing the catastrophic failure of financial institutions whose collapse could endanger the entire economy, but only with maximum protections for taxpayers and a clear understanding that government support for any company is an extraordinary action that must come with significant restrictions on the firms that receive support. And it means reforming a weak and outdated regulatory system so that we can better withstand financial shocks and better protect consumers, investors, and businesses from the reckless greed and risk-taking that must never endanger our prosperity again.
No longer can we allow Wall Street wrongdoers to slip through regulatory cracks. No longer can we allow special interests to put their thumbs on the economic scales. No longer can we allow the unscrupulous lending and borrowing that leads only to destructive cycles of bubble and bust.
It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that change must begin now. We should have an open and honest discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people. For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs. More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied. And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.
That is not the country I know, and it is not a future I will accept as President of the United States. A world that depends on the strength of our economy is now watching and waiting for America to lead once more. And that is what we will do.
It will not come easy or happen overnight, and it is altogether likely that things may get worse before they get better. But that is all the more reason for Congress to act without delay. I know the scale of this plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of our situation. We have already tried the wait-and-see approach to our problems, and it is the same approach that helped lead us to this day of reckoning.
That is why the time has come to build a 21st century economy in which hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded. That’s why I’m asking Congress to work with me and my team day and night, on weekends if necessary, to get the plan passed in the next few weeks. That’s why I’m calling on all Americans – Democrats and Republicans – to put good ideas ahead of the old ideological battles; a sense of common purpose above the same narrow partisanship; and insist that the first question each of us asks isn’t “What’s good for me?” but “What’s good for the country my children will inherit?”
More than any program or policy, it is this spirit that will enable us to confront this challenge with the same spirit that has led previous generations to face down war, depression, and fear itself. And if we do – if we are able to summon that spirit again; if are able to look out for one another, and listen to one another, and do our part for our nation and for posterity, then I have no doubt that years from now, we will look back on 2009 as one of those years that marked another new and hopeful beginning for the United States of America. Thank you, God Bless You, and may God Bless America.
My Thoughts:
I just don't understand how spending more money (*esp. money we do not have) is going to fix the economy. The initial TARP did not work- we've lost billions already and now the President is convinced we need to spend more. Change is coming... but I don't think it's good. Our government is getting bigger and bigger by the day and some (I refuse to believe most of us) are becoming more and more dependent on government. If the President really wanted to stimulate the economy, he should provide tax cuts for ALL of us... not just 95%. Initiate a flat tax for everyone... let us all have some "skin in the game." This would free up money, loosen family budgets, and the people could begin rebuilding our country. Instead, they're "bailing out" Wall Street and Washington.... nationalizing our banks... soon we'll see universal health care. I really wish people would wake up! Our children will be paying for this "Recovery & Reinvestment Plan" (aka TARP II)... and what will we have to show for it? A larger government... we are buying more government. A wise man once said, "you must have a Carter to get another Reagan." Let the Carter years begin.
Geithner News
Geithner Says China Manipulates Its Currency
Comments Suggest Harder Line on Trade
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 23, 2009; Page A08
As Timothy F. Geithner moved closer yesterday to confirmation as Treasury secretary, he signaled a more confrontational approach toward China, bluntly stating that the new administration thinks Beijing is "manipulating" its currency and it will act "aggressively" using "all the diplomatic avenues" to change China's currency practices.
China's control of the value of its currency, the yuan, has been a friction point for years, with some economists saying Beijing has kept its currency artificially low to keep the prices of its goods cheap and generate trade surpluses. That has led to a global capital imbalance, as American consumers borrowed and spent and China became the United States' largest foreign creditor.
The Bush administration warned China about its currency practices but did so with a relatively muted voice. Geithner's words -- which came in written comments to the Senate Finance Committee -- suggested that President Obama is prepared to challenge China far more vigorously.
His statement echoed Obama's campaign vows to take a harder line on China's trade policies, although he said the immediate emphasis should be on shoring up the faltering U.S. and Chinese economies.
Geithner pointed to new data from Beijing showing that growth slowed sharply in 2008 and said a further slowdown in China could delay recovery from the global downturn. "The immediate goal should be for us to convince China to adopt a more aggressive stimulus package as we do our part to try to pass a stimulus package here at home," he said.
Geithner's comments are almost sure to anger China, which has bristled at less aggressive comments by outgoing Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. Answering U.S. charges, China in the past has countered that lax regulation and faulty policies are to blame for the U.S. crisis. It has cautioned that China should not be made a scapegoat in a time of crisis.
It remains unclear, however, whether the Obama administration intends to go one step further and declare to Congress that China is manipulating the yuan to gain an unfair trade advantage. Such a move could spark punitive action and countermeasures from China.
"It was very interesting to see that Geithner has stated that China is manipulating its currency," said Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Things are going to get quite heated on the China-U.S. front this year. This statement was clearly a shot across the bow, signaling that this administration does not plan to mollycoddle the Chinese."
Geithner's comments to the Senate Finance Committee came just before the panel approved his nomination as the next Treasury secretary, despite concerns about errors on his tax returns in recent years.
The committee, by a 18 to 5 vote, agreed to send Geithner's nomination to the full Senate, recommending that he serve as Obama's point man on the sagging economy and the nation's collapsing financial system. A vote on Geithner's confirmation has been scheduled for Monday evening.
Although most of Obama's nominations have sailed through the Senate, his choice of Geithner to serve in this critical Cabinet post has been delayed by embarrassing revelations about Geithner's failure to pay a portion of his taxes from 2001 to 2004. In addition to running the $700 billion emergency rescue program for the banking system, the Treasury secretary manages the nation's finances and oversees the Internal Revenue Service.
Geithner has apologized for what he called "careless mistakes" during the years he worked as policy director at the International Monetary Fund, an international institution that does not automatically withhold taxes for its employees. A 2006 IRS audit informed Geithner that he had failed to pay self-employment taxes in 2003 and 2004. While he was being vetted by the Obama team in November, they pointed out he had made the same errors on his 2001 and 2002 returns. All told, Geithner has paid $42,702 in back taxes and interest.
Most Democrats and many Republicans have defended Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, calling his tax problems insignificant considering the talent he would bring to the Treasury as it responds to the battered banking sector.
But some Republicans say Geithner's tax errors reveal larger character flaws. He faced tough questions from several Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee, five of whom voted against him: Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Jim Bunning (Ky.), Pat Roberts (Kan.) and Mike Enzi (Wyo.).
Grassley, the panel's senior Republican, said he received a message from a constituent expressing concern about the nomination: "If the man cannot handle his own finances," the constituent wrote, "how is he going to handle the country's?"
Geithner won the support of other Republicans on the committee, however, and Democratic leaders say they expect Geithner to easily win confirmation by the full Senate.
My thoughts:
I think it's incredibly sad our Senate is moving forward to confirm this man. I've written to my Senators, asking them to deny this confirmation. Mr. Geithner is obviously an untrustworthy, unethical, arrogant man. How are we supposed to believe in "hope, change and transparency" when government is knowingly putting a criminal into power? If the average American made the "honest mistake" of tax evasion more then once, he or she would be thrown in jail. Now he is going to be in charge of the very organization he cheated? Really? Only in America!
And to be honest, I don't think pushing China's buttons right now is a very good idea. How many toys have we recalled last year from China? Hundreds, thousands? And now we want to challenge the value of their currency? This seems to contradict the notion that America is going to earn a better reputation around the world.
Important Definitions
Webster's Dictionary definitions:
- pol·i·tics:
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈpä-lə-ˌtiks\
- Function:
- noun plural but singular or plural in construction
- Etymology:
- Greek politika, from neuter plural of politikos political
- Date:
- circa 1529
1 a: the art or science of government b: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy c: the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government2: political actions, practices, or policies3 a: political affairs or business ; especially : competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership (as in a government) b: political life especially as a principal activity or profession c: political activities characterized by artful and often dishonest practices4: the political opinions or sympathies of a person5 a: the total complex of relations between people living in society b: relations or conduct in a particular area of experience especially as seen or dealt with from a political point of view politics> politics>
gov·ern·ment
1con·ser·va·tive gov·ern·ment
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈgə-vər(n)-mənt, -və-mənt; ˈgə-bəm-ənt, -vəm-\
- Function:
- noun
- Usage:
- often attributive
- Date:
- 14th century
1: the act or process of governing ; specifically : authoritative direction or control2obsolete : moral conduct or behavior : discretion3 a: the office, authority, or function of governing bobsolete : the term during which a governing official holds office4: the continuous exercise of authority over and the performance of functions for a political unit : rule5 a: the organization, machinery, or agency through which a political unit exercises authority and performs functions and which is usually classified according to the distribution of power within it b: the complex of political institutions, laws, and customs through which the function of governing is carried out6: the body of persons that constitutes the governing authority of a political unit or organization: as a: the officials comprising the governing body of a political unit and constituting the organization as an active agency bcapitalized : the executive branch of the United States federal government ccapitalized : a small group of persons holding simultaneously the principal political executive offices of a nation or other political unit and being responsible for the direction and supervision of public affairs: (1): such a group in a parliamentary system constituted by the cabinet or by the ministry (2): administration 4b 7: political science
- Pronunciation:
- \kən-ˈsər-və-tiv\
- Function:
- adjective
- Date:
- 14th century
1: preservative2 a: of or relating to a philosophy of conservatism bcapitalized : of or constituting a political party professing the principles of conservatism: as (1): of or constituting a party of the United Kingdom advocating support of established institutions (2): progressive conservative 3 a: tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional b: marked by moderation or caution conservative estimate> c: marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners 4: of, relating to, or practicing Conservative Judaism
— con·ser·va·tive·ness noun
- 1lib·er·al
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈli-b(ə-)rəl\
- Function:
- adjective
- Etymology:
- Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin liberalis suitable for a freeman, generous, from liber free; perhaps akin to Old English lēodan to grow, Greek eleutheros free
- Date:
- 14th century
1 a: of, relating to, or based on the liberal arts <liberal education> barchaic : of or befitting a man of free birth2 a: marked by generosity : openhanded liberal giver> b: given or provided in a generous and openhanded way liberal meal> c: ample , full3obsolete : lacking moral restraint : licentious4: not literal or strict : loose liberal translation>5: broad-minded ; especially : not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms6 a: of, favoring, or based upon the principles of liberalism bcapitalized : of or constituting a political party advocating or associated with the principles of political liberalism ; especially : of or constituting a political party in the United Kingdom associated with ideals of individual especially economic freedom, greater individual participation in government, and constitutional, political, and administrative reforms designed to secure these objectives
— lib·er·al·ly \-b(ə-)rə-lē\ adverb
— lib·er·al·ness noun
synonyms liberal , generous , bountiful , munificent mean giving or given freely and unstintingly. liberal suggests openhandedness in the giver and largeness in the thing or amount given liberal with her praise>. generous stresses warmhearted readiness to give more than size or importance of the gift generous offer of help>. bountiful suggests lavish, unremitting giving or providing bountiful presents> . munificent suggests a scale of giving appropriate to lords or princes munificent foundation grant>.
- fas·cism
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈfa-ˌshi-zəm also ˈfa-ˌsi-\
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- Italian fascismo, from fascio bundle, fasces, group, from Latin fascis bundle & fasces fasces
- Date:
- 1921
1often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>
— fas·cist \-shist also -sist\ noun or adjective often capitalized
— fas·cis·tic \fa-ˈshis-tik also -ˈsis-\ adjective often capitalized
— fas·cis·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb often capitalized
- so·cial·ism
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\
- Function:
- noun
- Date:
- 1837
1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
- Marx·ism
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈmärk-ˌsi-zəm\
- Function:
- noun
- Date:
- 1887
: the political, economic, and social principles and policies advocated by Marx ; especially : a theory and practice of socialism including the labor theory of value, dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and dictatorship of the proletariat until the establishment of a classless society
— Marx·ist \-sist\ noun or adjective
- com·mu·nism
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈkäm-yə-ˌni-zəm, -yü-\
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- French communisme, from commun common
- Date:
- 1840
1 a: a theory advocating elimination of private property b: a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed2capitalized a: a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics b: a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production c: a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably d: communist systems collectively
- cap·i·tal·ism
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈka-pə-tə-ˌliz-əm, ˈkap-tə-, British also kə-ˈpi-tə-\
- Function:
- noun
- Date:
- 1877
: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market
- free market
- Function:
- noun
- Date:
- 1897
: an economic market operating by free competition
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