Without the support of a single Republican lawmaker, the House today approved the $819 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by a vote of 244-188.
The package would allocate more than $100 billion in direct spending for various green projects, including money for clean energy and efficiency programs, a smart grid, weatherization of low- and moderate-income homes, retrofits on public buildings and public housing, clean water infrastructure, and environmental restoration.
The measure contains $14.6 billion for public transportation, $3 billion more than originally planned thanks to an amendment that mass transit supporters were able to add during debate. There’s also $37.9 billion for energy efficiency and $27.8 billion for renewable energy. On top of those amounts, the Ways and Means Committee added $20 billion in renewable-energy and energy-efficiency tax credits and related financial incentives, and inserted language to make the investment tax credit passed last year refundable.
The bill now moves to the Senate, which probably won’t vote on a package until next week. Appropriators have been hashing out how they’ll distribute funds, and it’s looking like green projects won’t fare as well in the Senate version even though senators’ package is $68 billion larger. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $365.6 billion in spending, and the Senate Finance Committee passed $522 billion in tax measures, which include incentives for renewables. There’s only $8.4 billion for mass transit in the Senate package, which is even less than a previous draft of the bill called for.
Some environmental groups are perturbed by $50 billion in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry that are included in the Senate package. “The nuclear industry has given millions of dollars to politicians, an investment that appears to be paying off,” Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder said in a statement on Wednesday. “Senators are supposed to be fixing the economy but instead they’re offering the nuclear industry a $50 billion gift that will create virtually no near-term jobs. It’s unconscionable. Lobbyists are probably popping champagne corks as we speak.”
Ken Ward reports that coal supporters also inserted $4.6 billion for the industry into the Senate bill, nearly double the money in the House version. That includes $2 billion for the development of “near-zero emissions” power plants, $1 billion for the Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, and $1.6 billion for carbon capture at industrial plants.
Enviros are hoping that the Senate can do better as they move forward on the package.
“The House has now set a high bar and as this bill moves to the Senate, it is vitally important that we see even more of these kinds of improvements,” said Melinda Pierce, the Sierra Club’s deputy director of national campaigns. “Focus must remain on investing in newer, cleaner, more efficient technology and not wasting money on costly, business-as-usual approaches like new coal plants or ‘highways to nowhere.’”
President Obama issued a statement following the House passage of the bill, calling for the legislation to be improved before it reaches his desk: “The plan now moves to the Senate, and I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk. But what we can’t do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way. We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do.”
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Comments
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Angelsnecropolis Posted 10:51 am
29 Jan 2009
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georgia Posted 2:18 am
30 Jan 2009
$2 billion to help subsidize child care.
$650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.
$600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.
$75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.
53.4 billion for science facilities, high speed Internet, and miscellaneous energy and environmental programs.
$13 billion to repair and weatherize public housing, help the homeless, repair foreclosed homes.
$10.3 billion for tax credits to help families defray the cost of college tuition.
This bill has more pork in than all of the earmarks in both the Bush and Clinton Admins combined. This spending will prolong any recover, cause a big spike in inflation and probably result in many higher taxes and fees. When it fails, we will be told that we just didn't spend enough! Good grief.
For those of you that want government healthcare, this is their way of getting it via the back door. Let's not debate it and let's not let the people know what we're doing. But don't complain when care eventually has to be rationed and your choices for treatment are limited and you have to wait 2 years for an MRI, if the machines still work.
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snedunuri Posted 9:55 am
31 Jan 2009
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JerryPBO Posted 9:16 pm
02 Feb 2009
The tax cuts will only hasten the day that the US currency becomes worthless, which is certainly not the strategy to develop a sustainable economy.
Its the same thinking that got us here......
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splashy Posted 6:09 pm
04 Feb 2009
I think all of those things you listed are ways to pump money into the working people's pockets, so they can actually have SOMETHING to spend to get things going. Most of the people doing the jobs that will be subsidized earn around minimum wage. They are actually the ones that keep the economy happening because they have to SPEND IT, not the well to do that just suck out and stash money, keeping it out of circulation. Think of it as the lifeblood of the economy. The money has to move around to do any good.
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Pompey Road Posted 12:03 am
05 Feb 2009
I did not like Obama going against the democrats on the buy American Provision they put in the Bill. It is not protectionist and does not violate WTO rules. Even China and Europe have such provisions and they are not considered illegal trade practise for government contracts.
The millions of green manufacturing jobs will go to China because we lost the trade war years ago when we give them most favored nation trading status and gave away our manufacturing base.
Some green constuction jobs maybe and some tech spin off jobs if we shut down the 1-1/2 million VISA applicants. We will not reap the benifits of millions of green manufacturing jobs if we don't put some tax incentives into that bill for manufacturing to be done in the U.S.
I think the provision is being considered for any corporation that will fabricate here to get tax incentives. If this is not done most of the manufacturing jobs will go to pacific rim countries and China. I do not feel it is fair to use American Tax dollars to stimulate the economy of China.
We voted for change, not the outsourcing, trickle down economics of George Bush. Obama made campaign promises at the Harley Davison plant to restore and protect American mnufacturing. If he breaks this campaign promise 2 weeks into his term he will be a one term president. This is a sore spot for more democrats than just the blue dogs and even republicans.
Big mistake if he breaks this campaing promise this early in his admisistration.
The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.
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