Highlights Of The Stimulus Bill
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
As much as the overall number has been discussed, we think the details of the package have not been discussed enough. To that end, the Associated Press has provided the following listing of the highlights of what's in the package:
Aid to the poor and unemployed
$43 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, increase them by $25 a week and provide job training
$20 billion to increase food stamp benefits by 13 percent
$4 billion to provide a one-time additional Supplemental Security Income payment
$2.5 billion in temporary welfare payments
$1 billion for home heating subsidies
$1 billion for community action agencies.
Health care
$40 billion to subsidize health care insurance for the unemployed under the COBRA program or provide health care through Medicaid
$87 billion to help states with Medicaid
$20 billion to modernize health information technology systems
$4 billion for preventative care
$1.5 billion for community health centers
$420 million to combat avian flu
$335 million for programs that combat AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis
Infrastructure
$43 billion for transportation projects, including $30 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair and $12 billion for mass transit, including $6 billion to buy transit equipment like buses
$31 billion to build and repair federal buildings and other public infrastructure
$19 billion in water projects
$10 billion in rail and mass transit projects
Education
$41 billion in grants to local school districts
$79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid
$21 billion for school modernization
$16 billion to boost the maximum Pell Grant by $500 to $5,350
$2 billion for Head Start
Energy
$32 billion to fund a so-called "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste
$6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes
Science and technology
$10 billion for science facilities
$6 billion to bring high-speed Internet access to rural and underserved areas
$1 billion for the 2010 Census
Housing
$13 billion to repair and make more energy-efficient public housing projects, allow communities to buy and repair foreclosed homes, and help the homeless.
Environment
$3.2 billion to clean up Superfund and waste sites, leaking underground storage tanks, nuclear sites and military bases
$400 million for habitat restoration projects
$850 million to prevent forest fires.
Law enforcement
$4 billion in grants to state and local law enforcement to hire officers and purchase equipment
Tax Cuts For Individuals
$500 per-worker, $1,000 per-couple tax cut for two years, costing about $145 billion. Workers could expect to see about $20 a week less withheld from their paychecks starting in June. Millions of Americans who don't make enough money to pay federal income taxes could file returns next year and receive checks
Greater access to the $1,000 per-child tax credit for the working poor in 2009 and 2010, at a cost of $18.3 billion. Under current law, workers must make at least $8,500 to receive the credit. The change eliminates the floor, meaning more workers who pay no federal income taxes could receive checks
Increase the earned-income tax credit — which provides money to the working poor — for families with at least three children, at a cost of $4.7 billion
Provide a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010, at a cost of $10.3 billion. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $160,000
Repeal a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time for homes purchased from Jan. 1 to July 1, unless the home is sold within three years, at a cost of $2.6 billion. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $150,000
Tax Cuts For Businesses
Extend a provision allowing businesses buying equipment such as computers to speed up the depreciation of that equipment through 2009, at a cost of $5 billion
Provide an infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two, at a cost of $15 billion
Repeal a Treasury provision that allowed firms that buy money-losing banks to use more of the losses as tax credits to offset the profits of the merged banks for tax purposes. The change would increase taxes on the merged banks by $7 billion over 10 years
Subsidize locally issued bonds for school construction, teacher training, economic development and infrastructure improvements, at a cost of $35.5 billion
Extend tax credits for renewable energy production, at a cost of $13 billion
Extend and increase tax credits to homeowners who make their homes more energy efficient, at a cost of $4.3 billion. Homeowners could receive tax credits of up to $1,500 for upgrading furnaces and hot water heaters and making other improvements through 2010
Click here for more coverage today of the stimulus bill.
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"OK, I''ll send you a response, but I don''t need 400 words. I need four: I hope he [President Obama] fails."
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http://mediamatters.org/items/200901280001
Posted by blackhouse42 at 06:23 PM : Jan 28, 2009
Why do you insist on making this personal? Our country is failing and these programs wont help. Meanwhile, you seem fixated on a governor from Alaska.
Posted by machineguy
well said machineguy - too many people do make it personal, and why does this person even think her daughter is on welfare - it''s so retarded - it''s time to get over it and move up and on instead of living life like the ground hog day movie
The $4.19 billion will be distributed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development''s Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
$500 per-worker, $1,000 per-couple tax cut for two years, costing about $145 billion. Workers could expect to see about $20 a week less withheld from their paychecks starting in June. Millions of Americans who don''''t make enough money to pay federal income taxes could file returns next year and receive checks"
This is Socialism, folks.Posted by CBSisPravda1 at 06:09 PM : Jan 28, 2009
Oh youare talking about the EIC Earned Income Credit , started by ... drum rpoll please ... Ronald Reagan , based on the facts that if they are not making enough that they owe payroll taxes , but are still medicaid taaxes and Social security taxes they are stuill in fact tax payeers. Not that the facts slow some people down , google is your friend . And good luck with taht whole armed rebellion thing ,if I were you I would take my gun right now and go out in the strreet and shoot the first person that looks like a democrat , or a believer in Ronald Reagan , or whatever you need to make you feel like an internet hero instead of a zero.
That is ACORN money. The welfare state is taking over your lives.
errr not that the facts ever slow you down , machine guy yourail on about people obsessed about Ms Palin , and you are as fixaated on organizations like ACORN . there are lots of community organziations that are active from things like the UNited Way to a plethora of social /religious community groups . Groups have to appply for that money in each case not matter who they ar3e , so your allegations are jsut that and really not founded on facts.
Very well said. I would also like to see incentives in place for companies to return manufacturing to the US.
WE NEED TARIFFS ON IMPORTS, AND WE NEED THEM NOW
Our Manufacturing base - which sustained our expansion for Forty years is now gone-
Probably never to return-
The world is smaller-
Manufacturers will always chase cheap labor -
Its the way of the world -
Its naive to think otherwise !
Retooling to a green platform will help-
But Stimulus plans will only do so much-
We need revenue!
And Our biggest problem is that we are currently shipping our cash out of the country in tractor trailer loads - Each and every day.
In fact, we spend 550 Million a day for oil alone
Trillions to other countries for disposable commodities-
Until the Govt. recognizes this as one of the primary causes for our economic catastrophe--We will continue to sink in debt!
Since we are now a Consumer society,
And other countries subsidize their currency, and products,( coupled with cheap labor)to flood our shores with disposable products,
Our only recourse is to scrap NAFTA, and make the producer countries pay a modest Import duty
For access to the worlds largest consumer base-
It will give this deficit ridden Govt.
Much needed revenue.
The Free Trade mantra is nothing but BS rhetoric -
What we have today is not free trade but subsidized cheap imports,
That leave the purchasing nations (The USA )
Cash starved -
Indebted to foreign Bankers !
Until we recognize the root of our problem,
We will continue to drown in debt !
Wake up Washington !
Tax the Foreign Bas Tards!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by blackhouse42 at 06:23 PM : Jan 28, 2009
Why do you insist on making this personal? Our country is failing and these programs wont help. Meanwhile, you seem fixated on a governor from Alaska.