U.S. of Congress House Bill “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009”
Highlights: · Bill’s purpose: job preservation and creation (3 to 4 million jobs), infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes. · $275 billion in economic recovery tax cuts and $550 billion in carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in, for a total of $825 billion in economic stimulus funds. · Bill contains a historic level of transparency, oversight and accountability that will help guarantee taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and Americans can see results for their investment. Ø In many instances funds are distributed through existing formulas Ø How funds are spent, including why an activity should be funded with recovery dollars, will be posted on a special website created by the President. Program managers must be identified. Ø A Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board will review management of recovery dollars and provide early warning signs. Ø The Government Accountability Office and the Inspectors General will provide special review of recovery funding. Ø Federal and state whistleblowers who report fraud and abuse are protected. Ø There are no earmarks in this bill. · Clean, Efficient, American Energy: to put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow Ø $32 billion to transform the nation’s energy transmission, distribution, and production systems. Ø $16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficient retrofits. Ø $6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes. · Transform our Economy with Science and Technology: Ø $10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation. Ø $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: Ø $30 billion in transportation/highway construction. Ø $31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long-term energy cost savings. Ø $19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments. Ø $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 Ø $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). Ø $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to federal formulas, $15 billion to states for 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. Ø $15.6 billion to increase the PELL grant by $500. Ø $6 billion for higher education modernization. · Lower Healthcare Costs: to update and computerize health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year. Ø $2 billion in this bill, and $20 billion overall, for health information technology. Ø $4.1 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective health care treatments. · Help Workers Hurt by the Economy: high unemployment and rising costs have outpaced American’s paychecks. The bill helps struggling families make ends meet by providing $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: fiscal relief is provided to states, so that they can continue to employ teachers, firefighters and police officers and provide vital services without having to unnecessarily raise middle class taxes. The bill provides $4 billion for state and local law enforcement. · Funds provided in this bill must be used for well-vetted investments that can begin in a timely manner. Provisions in the bill require timely funding awards. Formula grants must be allocated within thirty days and discretionary grants must be allocated within ninety days, with the period lengthened by thirty days for new programs. The bill provides for the redistribution of funds not timely obligated within one year for specific programs. The bill also provides for .5 percent of each appropriation to go for administration, management and oversight. For strong oversight, nearly $210 million is provided for the Offices of Inspectors General and $25 million for the Government Accountability Office. No funding provided in this bill may be used to fund casinos, gaming institutions, aquariums, zoos, golf courses or swimming pools (emphasis added). · Mark Zandi of Moody’s Ecnomy.com projects that a $750 billion recovery package along the lines being proposed would raise GDP by $2.9 trillion over the next four years—about four times as much as the initial cost. He projects that GDP will be about $1 trillion higher in both 2011 and 2012. · Prepared by the Fiscal Analysis Division, January 16, 2009 ICJ:I:\CORLEY\American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.doc This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
