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Saturday without a topic
Author: TriSec    Date: 02/14/2009 13:46:24

But I thought I'd get something open nonetheless.

Skimming the headlines this morning, I see that the stimulus bill has passed overnight; that's a good thing. It's certainly interesting to look at the way the votes broke. With 7 Democrats voting "NO" and no Republicans voting "YES", it's obvious we don't need the GOP for anything right now. The Senate had 2 independents caucus with the Democrats (which would be Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders) and three GOPers cross the line to vote "YES".

If the rest of the party is going to be about as helpful as a one-legged man at a balloon stomping contest, then it's high time we moved on without them.


So....It's a reconciled version of a compromise. Let's see what's in the bill now.




AID TO POOR AND UNEMPLOYED: $40 billion to extend unemployment benefits through Dec. 31 and increase them by $25 a week; $20 billion to increase food stamp benefits; $4 billion for job training; $3 billion in temporary welfare payments.

DIRECT CASH PAYMENTS: $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.

INFRASTRUCTURE: $48 billion for transportation projects, including $27.5 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair; $8.4 billion for mass transit; $8 billion for construction of high-speed railways; $7.2 billion to bring broadband Internet service to underserved areas; $4.2 billion to repair and modernize Defense Department facilities.

HEALTHCARE: $24.7 billion to provide a 65 percent subsidy of healthcare insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program; $86.6 billion to help states with Medicaid; $19 billion to modernize health information technology systems; $10 billion for health research and construction of National Institutes of Health facilities; $1 billion for prevention and wellness programs.

AID TO STATES: $8.8 billion in aid to states to offset budget cuts.

ENERGY: About $50 billion for energy programs, focused chiefly on efficiency and renewable energy, including $5 billion to weatherize modest-income homes; $6.4 billion to clean up nuclear weapons production sites; $11 billion toward a "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste; $6 billion to subsidize loans for renewable energy projects; $6.3 billion in state energy efficiency and clean energy grants; $4.5 billion to make federal buildings more energy efficient; $2 billion in grants for advanced batteries for electric vehicles.

EDUCATION: $44.5 billion in aid to local school districts, with flexibility to use the funds for school modernization and repair; $25.2 billion to school districts to fund special education and the No Child Left Behind law; $15.6 billion to boost the maximum Pell Grant by $500; $2 billion for Head Start.

HOUSING: $4 billion to repair and improve the energy efficiency of public housing projects; $2 billion to redevelop foreclosed and abandoned homes; $1.5 billion for homeless shelters.

SCIENCE: $3 billion for the National Science Foundation for basic science and engineering research; $1 billion for NASA; $1.6 billion for research in areas such as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, and nuclear physics.

HOMELAND SECURITY: $2.8 billion for homeland security programs, including $1 billion for airport screening equipment.

LAW ENFORCEMENT: $4 billion in grants to state and local law enforcement agencies to hire officers and purchase equipment.

Taxes

TAX CREDIT: About $116 billion for $400-per-worker, $800-per-couple tax credits in 2009 and 2010. For the last half of 2009, most workers could expect to see about $13 a week less withheld from their paychecks starting about June.

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: About $70 billion to spare about 24 million taxpayers from being hit with the alternative minimum tax in 2009.

COLLEGE TUITION: About $14 billion to provide a $2,500 expanded tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010.

CHILD TAX CREDIT: About $15 billion to provide the $1,000 child tax credit to more families that don't make enough money to pay income taxes.

EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT: $4.7 billion to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families with three or more children.

HOMEBUYER CREDIT: $6.6 billion to repeal a requirement that an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit be paid back over time for homes purchased from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, unless the home is sold within three years.

AUTO SALES: $1.7 billion to makes sales taxes on paid new cars, light trucks, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles tax-deductible through the end of the year.

RENEWABLE ENERGY INCENTIVES: About $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over 10 years.

BUSINESS TAX BREAKS: $5 billion to extend a provision allowing businesses buying equipment such as computers to speed up its depreciation through 2009.



Let's hope some good comes of it.


But are we willing to wait? The bill passed; where's my money? Why hasn't the Economy turned around already? WHY ISN'T OBAMA DOING ANYTHING?????

If you're like me, your'e probably already getting a little tired of certain elements whining and cajoling that nothing is happening and the President isn't doing anything. In this country, we probably have an unnatural expectation thet a new leader will hit the ground running. No doubt due to our Patron Saint's (FDR) first hundred days, where much happened. Today is day 25 of Obama's presidency; cut him a little slack, willya? Bush was president for 8 years; we're not going to fix that in 8 weeks, you know.

I went back through the Wiki for 2001...here's what was happening 8 years ago. Something curious leaped out at me; see if you pick up on it, too.


* January 20 - George W. Bush succeeds Bill Clinton, becoming the 43rd President of the United States.
* January 22 - Four of the "Texas 7" are caught at a convenience store in Woodland Park, Colorado, and a fifth kills himself inside a motor home.Confirmation needed
* January 23–25 - United Nations war crimes prosecutor Del Ponte demands that Serbia hand over Slobodan Milošević.Confirmation needed
* January 23 - The Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident occurs.
* January 24 - The last 2 of the "Texas 7" are taken into custody in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Confirmation needed
* January 24 - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Mandelson resigns from the British cabinet for the second time.
* January 25 - A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, killing 24.[1]
* January 26 - An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, killing more than 12,000.
* January 28 - Super Bowl XXXV: The Baltimore Ravens defeat the New York Giants 34-7, winning their first Super Bowl title.

* February 6 - Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon wins election as Prime Minister of Israel.
* February 9 - The submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime-Maru near Hawaii.
* February 12 - The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
* February 13 - A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
* February 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
* February 16 - US and UK war planes bomb a Baghdad suburb, killing 3.



So....I think we'll stop at that for now. It's Valentine's Day. Enjoy it, if you do that sort of thing. Otherwise, we'll have a table set up at the back of the blog today so you can drown your sorrow's (ha!) while pondering the exploits of the Saint.


 

19 comments (Latest Comment: 02/15/2009 05:52:45 by livingonli)
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