Emergency Spending

Tax cuts
Total: $288 billion
Tax relief for individuals
Total: $237 billion
• $116 billion: New payroll tax credit of $400 per worker and $800 per couple in 2009 and 2010. Phase-out begins at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for joint filers. [30]
• $70 billion: Alternative minimum tax: a one year increase in AMT floor to $70,950 for joint filers for 2009.
• $15 billion: Expansion of child tax credit: A $1,000 credit to more families (even those that do not make enough money to pay income taxes).
• $14 billion: Expanded college credit to provide a $2,500 expanded tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $160,000.
• $6.6 billion: Homebuyer credit: $8,000 credit for all homes bought between 1/1/2009 and 12/1/2009 and repayment provision repealed for homes purchased in 2009 and held more than three years.
• $4.7 billion: Excluding from taxation the first $2,400 a person receives in unemployment compensation benefits in 2009.
• $4.7 billion: Expanded earned income tax credit to increase the earned income tax credit — which provides money to low income workers — for families with at least three children.
• $4.3 billion: Home energy credit to provide an expanded credit to homeowners who make their homes more energy-efficient in 2009 and 2010. Homeowners could recoup 30 percent of the cost up to $1,500 of numerous projects, such as installing energy-efficient windows, doors, furnaces and air conditioners.
• $1.7 billion: for deduction of sales tax from car purchases, not interest payments phased out for incomes above $250,000.
Tax relief for companies
Total: $51 billion
• $15 billion: Allowing companies to use current losses to offset profits made in the previous five years, instead of two, making them eligible for tax refunds.
• $13 billion: to extend tax credits for renewable energy production (until 2014).
• $11 billion: Government contractors: Repeal a law that takes effect in 2012, requiring government agencies to withhold three percent of payments to contractors to help ensure they pay their tax bills. Repealing the law would cost $11 billion over 10 years, in part because the government could not earn interest by holding the money throughout the year.
• $7 billion: Repeal bank credit: 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.
• $5 billion: Bonus depreciation which extends a provision allowing businesses buying equipment such as computers to speed up its depreciation through 2009.

These are all fine and good but they aren't really "tax cuts" because they are part of a spending bill. It is simply money not paid now that will need to be paid later. They aren't decreasing the governments income. Rather, they are just delaying it. This is really a 288 BILLION dollar welfare handout. Thankyou BH Obama!

Healthcare

More than 11% of the total bill is allocated to help states with Medicaid
Total: $147.7 billion
• $86.6 billion for Medicaid
• $24.7 billion to provide a 65 percent subsidy of health care insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program
• $19 billion for health information technology
• $10 billion for health research and construction of National Institutes of Health facilities
• $1.3 billion for medical care for service members and their families (military)
• $1 billion for prevention and wellness
• $1 billion for the Veterans Health Administration
• $2 billion for Community Health Centers
• $1.1 billion to research the effectiveness of certain healthcare treatments
• $500 million to train healthcare personnel
• $500 million for healthcare services on Indian reservations

This is certainly not an "emergency" to get our economy running. This is political opportunists working towards socializing the nation's healthcare system. This is a step in that direction and a huge $150 BILLION mistake for this country. Remember, all this money has to be paid back and it all has to come from somewhere. If it comes from the "rich" or large corporations then those people will simply charge the "poor" more for goods and services. There is no escaping the fact that everyone will have to pay this back eventually either directly to the government or through private exchange. Thankyou BH Obama!

Education
Total: $90.9 billion
• $44.5 billion in aid to local school districts to prevent layoffs and cutbacks, with flexibility to use the funds for school modernization and repair (State Equalization Fund)
• $15.6 billion to increase Pell Grants from $4,731 to $5,350
• $13 billion for low-income public schoolchildren
• $12.2 billion for IDEA special education
• $2.1 billion for Head Start
• $2 billion for childcare services
• $650 million for educational technology
• $300 million for increased teacher salaries
• $250 million for states to analyze student performance
• $200 million to support working college students
• $70 million for the education of homeless children
Aid to poor, unemployed and retirees (including job training)

Again, this is a $91 BILLION dollar politically opportunistic spending frenzy and nothing else. This does nothing to stimulate the economy. It throws more money at the best funded and most under achieving school programs in the modernized world and I'm sure the teacher's unions are thrilled at this part of the bill. None of the above should be able to qualify as "emergency spending" but it certainly does according to BH Obama. Thankyou BH OBama!

Unemployment benefit expansion and food stamp increases are the main social funding parts in the final bill
Total: $82.5 billion
• $40 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, and increase them by $25 a week
• $19.9 billion for the Food Stamp Program
• $14.2 billion to give one-time $250 payments to Social Security recipients, poor people on Supplemental Security Income, and veterans receiving disability and pensions.
• $3.95 billion for job training
• $3 billion in temporary welfare payments
• $500 million for vocational training for the disabled
• $400 million for employment services
• $120 million for subsidized community service jobs for older Americans
• $150 million to help refill food banks
• $100 million for meals programs for seniors, such as Meals on Wheels
• $100 million for free school lunch programs

Why do unemployed people need more money? Honestly, did it get more expensive to be unemployed? More welfare programs for those on the government tit. It's pathetic. $83billion dollars so that unemployed people don't have to live as poorly as unemployed people used to live. Thankyou BH OBama!

Infrastructure Investment
Total: $80.9 billion
Core investments (roads, bridges, railways, other transportation)


Highway construction is the biggest single line infrastructure item in the final bill
Total: $45.2 billion
• $27.5 billion for highway and bridge construction projects
• $8 billion for high-speed rail projects
• $6.9 billion for new equipment for public transportation projects
• $1.3 billion for Amtrak
• $750 million for the construction of new public rail transportation systems
• $750 million for the maintenance of existing public transportation systems
Investment into government facilities
Total: $20.7 billion
• $4.6 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers for environmental restoration, flood protection, hydropower, and navigation infrastructure projects
• $4.2 billion to repair and modernize Defense Department facilities.
• $4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (wastewater treatment infrastructure improvements)
• $4 billion for public housing improvements
• $2 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (drinking water infrastructure improvements)
• $890 million to improve housing for service members
• $250 million to improve Job Corps training facilities
• $240 million for new child development centers
• $150 million for the construction of state extended-care facilities
• $100 million to improve facilities of the National Guard
• $240 million for the maintenance of United States Coast Guard facilities
Supplemental investments
Total: $15 billion
• $7.2 billion for complete broadband and wireless Internet access
• $1.5 billion for competitive grants to state and local governments for transportation investments
• $1.38 billion for rural drinking water and waste disposal projects
• $1 billion to the Bureau of Reclamation for drinking water projects for rural or drought-likely areas
• $750 million to the National Park Service
• $650 million to the Forest Service
• $515 million for wildfire prevention projects
• $500 million for Bureau of Indian Affairs infrastructure projects
• $340 million to the Natural Resources Conservation Service for watershed infrastructure projects
• $320 million to the Bureau of Land Management
• $280 million for National Wildlife Refuges
• $280 million for the National Fish Hatchery System
• $220 million to the International Boundary and Water Commission to repair flood control systems along the Rio Grande
• $220 million for other public lands management agencies
• $500 million to update the computer center at the Social Security Administration
• $290 million to upgrade IT platforms at the State Department
• $50 million for IT improvements at the Farm Service Agency

Parts of this section grow the federal government so I pretty much disagree with them on principle. The other parts pay for things like Highways and bridges. IMO, we ought to be paying this money to our state and local governments and allowing them to decide what to do about our local bridges and highways. Instead, we give it to Washington and they give it back if we comply with their federal programs. It's poppycock to say the least. This is another 20 billion dollar shot in the ass. Thank you BH Obama.

Energy
Loans and investments into green energy technology is a significant part of the final bill
Total: $49.7 billion
• $11 billion funding for an electric smart grid
• $6.3 billion for state and local governments to make investments in energy efficiency
• $6 billion for renewable energy and electric transmission technologies loan guarantees
• $6 billion for the cleanup of radioactive waste (mostly nuclear power plant sites)
• $5 billion for weatherizing modest-income homes
• $4.5 billion for state and local governments to increase energy efficiency in federal buildings
• $3.4 billion for carbon capture experiments
• $2.5 billion for energy efficiency research
• $2 billion for manufacturing of advanced car battery (traction) systems and components.
• $3.2 billion toward Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants
• $500 million for training of green-collar workers
• $400 million for electric vehicle technologies
• $300 million for federal vehicle fleets, to cover the cost of acquiring electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrid vehicles.
• $300 million to buy energy efficient appliances
• $300 million for reducing diesel fuel emissions
• $300 million for state and local governments to purchase energy efficient vehicles
• $250 million to increase energy efficiency in low-income housing
• $600 million to cleanup hazardous waste that threaten health and the environment
• $200 million to cleanup petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks
• $100 million to evaluate and cleanup brownfield land
• $400 million for the Geothermal Technologies Program

50 billion for energy. Yipee! Thankyou BH Obama!

Housing
Total: $12.7 billion
• $4 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for repairing and modernizing public housing, including increasing the energy efficiency of units.
• $2.25 billion in tax credits for financing low-income housing construction
• $2 billion for Section 8 housing rental assistance
• $2 billion to help communities purchase and repair foreclosed housing
• $1.5 billion for rental assistance and housing relocation
• $510 million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing
• $200 million for helping rural Americans buy homes
• $130 million for rural community facilities
• $100 million to help remove lead paint from public housing

Can I make a prediction here? None of this $50 billion dollar "investment" will do any good. Why? Because if green energy was profitable, it would already be in the market and consumers would be buying it up. This is the American tax payer subsidizing research/development that could not and would not exist or be sustained without the subsidization. The same is true for all non-metal recycling. It would not be economically viable for private companies to recycle non-metal materials if the government did not pay for it to survive. This is a complete waste and has a track record of epic failure. Thank you BH Obama!

Scientific research
NASA is among the research centers receiving additional funds under the Act
Total: $8.9 billion
• $3 billion to the National Science Foundation
• $2 billion to the United States Department of Energy
• $1.3 billion for university research facilities
• $1 billion to NASA
• $600 million to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• $580 million to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
• $230 million for NOAA operations, research and facilities
• $140 million to the United States Geological Survey

How is this an "emergency"? 9 billion dollars! Thankyou BH Obama.

Other
Total: $17.2 billion
• $8.8 billion: State Block Grants: in aid to states to defray budget cuts.
• $4 billion for state and local law enforcement agencies
• $1.1 billion for improving airport security
• $1 billion in preparation for the 2010 census
• $720 million for improving security at the border and ports of entry
• $650 million for DTV conversion coupons and DTV education
• $210 million to build and upgrade fire stations
• $150 million for the security of transit systems
• $150 million for the security of ports
• $24 million to improve security systems at the Department of Agriculture headquarters
• $150 million for an increase of claims processing military staff
• $150 million for VA general operating expenses
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts to support artists
• $50 million for the National Cemetery Administration

I like the 24 million to improve security systems at the DoA headquarters. First of all, WTF does that have to do with anything? Second, how is it an "emergency"? Third, doesn't 24 million seem like a lot of money for security in a building? How much does a few cameras and monitors cost? But, it is typical of this whole bill. It is a complete and total waste of future tax money. We will all pay the price in the future.

Thank you BH Obama!