Your Tax Dollars Being Spent as Usual on the Hill

Highlights of Economic Recovery Plan Spending

Energy

$32 billion Funding for "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste
$20 billion + Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy-related work, and a multiyear extension of renewable energy production tax credit
$6 billion Funding to weatherize modest-income homes

Science and Technology
$10 billion Science facilities
$6 billion High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas

Infrastructure
$32 billion Transportation projects
$31 billion Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure
$19 billion Water projects
$10 billion Rail and mass transit projects

Education
$41 billion Grants to local school districts
$79 billion State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid
$21 billion School modernization

Health Care
$39 billion Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid
$90 billion Help to states with Medicaid
$20 billion Modernization of health-information technology systems
$4 billion Preventative care

Taxes

Individuals:
$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion
Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor
Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children
A $2,500 college tuition tax credit
Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time

Businesses:
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

Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment
Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases
Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans

Source: Associated Press

Republicans wasted little time pointing out items they said in no way qualified as emergency stimulus spending, such as $650 million to help television viewers convert from analog to digital. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) took a swipe at several items, including $400 million the plan sets aside for "national treasures," including repairs of the walls of the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial.

Lobbysts were hard at work on the new bill: Power-equipment maker General Electric Co. lobbied for a slew of provisions in the bill and won several, including the production tax credit for renewables, $32 billion for a "smart" U.S. electrical grid for which it manufactures most components; and $300 million for rebates for consumers who buy energy efficient appliances, which GE sells. Not to out done: Florida citrus growers, California wine growers and a range of agricultural interests are pushing a tiny change that would allow farmers to more quickly depreciate new fields. High-tech and pharmaceutical companies want to save billions in taxes by including a plan that would allow them to bring overseas profits back home at lower tax rates. Labor unions are pressing Congress to make sure that new government funding for green technology results in jobs with good pay and benefits for workers.

Business as Usual Up on the Hill: How about a joke?

Thanks to Clauda for sending this:
A blonde was shopping at Target and came across a shiny silver thermos. She was quite fascinated by it, so she picked it up and took it to the clerk to ask what it was. The clerk said, "Why, that's a thermos. It keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold.'
"Wow, said the blonde, "that's amazing. I'm going to buy it!" So she bought the thermos and took it to work the next day.
Her boss saw it on her desk. "What's that," he asked?
"That's a thermos. It keeps hot things hot and cold things cold," she replied.
Her boss inquired, "What do you have in it?"
The blonde replied, "Two popsicles and some coffee."

Now that is a typical political compromise, if you ask me!

House Republican leaders put out a list of what they call wasteful provisions in the Senate version of the nearly $900 billion stimulus bill that is being debated:

• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.