I'm sorry, but the Stimulus Package is the most LIBERAL, PROGRESSIVE, KEYNSIAN BILL in decades

[Taverner]

Not even the Clinton or Carter admins passed anything as LIBERAL as the stim package

To me, the doubling of Unemployment is the icing on the cake. 1 year of benefits now - it used to be 5 months. Who gets a job in 5 months in this economy?

We can bash Obama and Congress all we want, but they created and PASSED the most LIBERAL piece of legislation to clear Congress in years. Honestly, the last time Democrats did this was LBJ.

Let me remind everyone what's in it (on edit):

Health Care

- $87 billion for Medicaid health care coverage for the poor.
- $19 billion to accelerate the use of health information technology systems.

Education
- $53.6 billion in direct aid to states, including $40.6 billion for local school districts, $5 billion in bonus grants for meeting key education performance measures and $8 billion for public safety and other critical services.
- $2,500 annual tax credit for higher education expenses.
- $500 increase in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students to $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010.
- $13 billion for Title I grants for schools in low-income areas.
- $12.2 billion for special education.
- $2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant program to help low-income parents.
- $1.1 billion for Early Head Start and $1 billion for Head Start.

Infrastructure
- $29 billion to modernize roads and bridges.
- $18 billion for clean water, flood control and environmental restoration.
- $8.4 billion for transit.
- $8 billion for high-speed rail.
- $5 billion to upgrade Defense Department facilities, including housing for troops.
- $4.5 billion to make federal office buildings more energy-efficient.

Tax cuts
- "Making Work Pay" tax credit of $400 for single filers earning up to $100,000 and $800 for couples earning up to $200,000.
- Allow low-income families earning as little as $3,000 to qualify for the child tax credit.
- Expands the Earned Income Tax Credit for families with three or more children and increases marriage penalty relief.
- Exempts 24 million taxpayers, for another year, from the Alternative Minimum Tax.
- Revises the $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers by removing the repayment requirement.
- Exempts from federal taxes the state and local sales taxes paid on the purchase of cars, light trucks and SUVs.
- Temporarily exempts some unemployment benefits from income taxes.

Unemployed
- Continues through December 2009 the program that provides up to 33 weeks of extended unemployment benefits.
- $25 increase in weekly unemployment benefits.
- A 60 percent federal subsidy for up to nine months for the cost of continuing an employer's health care coverage after a layoff under COBRA.

Food
- Increase monthly food stamp benefits by more than 13 percent.
- $100 million for emergency food and shelter to help community groups.
^Workers
- $4 billion for job training.
- $2 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to help communities buy and fix up foreclosed, vacant properties.
- $1.5 billion for the Emergency Shelter Grant program to provide short-term rental assistance and other aid.
- Payment of $250 to Social Security and disability recipients and veterans receiving disability compensation and pension benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
- Extends Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits over the next two years for at least 160,000 new workers who lose their jobs because of increased imports or factory shifts to certain foreign countries.

Energy
- $30 billion for a smart power grid, advanced battery technology and other energy efficiency measures.
- $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next 10 years.
- $6.3 billion for energy efficiency in multifamily housing getting federal assistance, such as HUD-sponsored low-income housing.
- $5 billion to weatherize more than 1 million homes owned by "modest-income" families.

Science
- $8.5 billion for programs at the National Institutes of Health, including biomedical research on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer and heart disease.
- $3 billion for basic research by the National Science Foundation.
- $1.6 billion for the Department of Energy's Office of Science for areas such as climate, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy.
- $1.5 billion for NIH to renovate university research facilities.
- $1 billion for NASA, including $400 million for climate change research.

Broadband
- $7 billion to expand broadband services to under-served communities.


http://www.13wmaz.com/article/20090212/NEWS04/90212039/1013