Transportation and Infrastructure Provisions

·         Modernizing Roads and Bridges

o    Provides $29 billion for modernizing roads and bridges.

o    Requires states to obligate at least half of the highway/bridge funding within 120 days.

o    States have over 6,100 projects totaling over $64 billion that could be under contract within 180 days.

·         Improving Public Transit and Rail

o    Provides $8.4 billion for investments in transit and $8 billion for investment in high-speed rail.

o    Includes funds for new construction of commuter and light rail, modernizing existing transit systems, and purchasing buses and equipment to needed to increase public transportation and improve intermodal and transit facilities.

o    States have 787 ready-to-go transit projects totaling about $16 billion.

·         Modernizing Public Infrastructure, Including To Achieve Major Energy Cost Savings

o    Provides billions to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long-term energy cost savings, including about $5 billion to make improvements in DOD facilities, including housing for our troops and about $4.5 billion to make federal office buildings more energy-efficient in order to achieve long-term savings for taxpayers.

Energy Provisions

·         Smart Grid/Advanced Battery Technology/Energy Efficiency

o    Provides a total of $30 billion for such initiatives as a new, smart power grid, advanced battery technology, and energy efficiency measures.

o    Modernizes the nation’s electricity systems through the Smart Grid Investment Program to make electricity grids more efficient and reliable.

o    Supports U.S. development of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems through loans and grants so that America can lead the world in transforming the way automobiles are powered.

o    Helps state and local governments make investments in innovative best practices to achieve greater energy efficiency and reduce energy usage.

o    Spurs energy efficiency and renewable energy R&D.

·         Tax Incentives to Spur Energy Savings and Green Jobs

o    Provides $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next 10 years.

o    Includes a three-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC) for electricity derived from wind (through 2012) and for electricity derived from biomass, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas, waste-to-energy, and marine facilities (through 2013).

o    Provides grants of up to 30 percent of the cost of building a new renewable energy facility to address current renewable energy credit market concerns.

o    Promotes energy-efficient investments in homes by extending and expanding tax credits through 2010 for purchases such as new furnaces, energy-efficient windows and doors, or insulation.

o    Provides a tax credit for purchases of plug-in hybrid vehicles of up to $7,500 to spur the next generation of American cars. 

o    Includes clean renewable energy bonds for State and local governments.

o    Establishes a new manufacturing investment tax credit for investment in advanced energy facilities, such as facilities that manufacture components for the production of renewable energy, advanced battery technology, and other innovative next-generation green technologies. 

·         Home Energy Savings

o    Provides $5 billion to improve the energy efficiency of modest-income homes through weatherization.

·         Repairing Public Housing and Making Key Energy Efficiency Retrofits to HUD-Assisted Housing

o    Provides a total of $6.3 billion for increasing energy efficiency in federally-supported housing programs.

o    Specifically, establishes a new program to upgrade HUD-sponsored low-income housing (elderly, disabled, and Section 8) to increase energy efficiency, including new insulation, windows, and frames.

o    Also invests in energy efficiency upgrades in public housing, including new windows, furnaces, and insulation to improve living conditions for residents and lower the cost of operating these facilities.

Health Care Provisions

·         Modernizing Health Care System

o    Provides $19 billion to accelerate adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) systems by doctors and hospitals.

o    Strengthens Federal privacy and security law to protect personally identifiable health information from misuse and abuse.

o    Creates jobs – many in high-tech sectors – by promoting the adoption of HIT.

·         Protecting Health Care Coverage through Medicaid

o    Provides an estimated $87 billion over the next two years in additional federal matching funds to help states maintain their Medicaid programs

Providing Health Insurance for Unemployed Workers

o    Provides a 60% subsidy for COBRA premiums for up to 9 months to laid-off workers to buy into their former employer’s health insurance.

·         Investing in Prevention & Comparative Effectiveness Research

o    Provides $1 billion for a new Prevention and Wellness Fund.

o    Provides $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research, to help patients and doctors determine the effectiveness of different treatments.

·         Medicare Payments for Teaching Hospitals

o    Blocks a FY09 Medicare payment reduction to teaching hospitals related to capital payments for indirect medical education (IME)

·         Medicare Payments to Hospice

o    Blocks FY09 Medicare payment cut to Hospice providers related to a wage index payment add-on

·         Medicare Payments to Long Term Care Hospitals

o    Technical corrections to the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 related to Medicare payments for long-term care hospitals

·         Temporary FMAP increase -- Increases FMAP funding [$86.7 billion]

o    Funding distributed for a 27-month period beginning 10/1/2008 through 12/31/2010

o    Across-the-board increase to all states of [6.2%] and corresponding increase for territories

o    Bonus structure (in addition to across-the-board increase) in the form of a decrease in the State share based on the State’s increase in the unemployment rate

o    Maintenance of effort on eligibility

·         Temporary Increase in Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) Payments [$500 million]

o    Increases states’ FY2009 annual DSH allotments by 2.5%

o    Increases states’ FY 2010 by 2.5% above FY2009 DSH allotment (with the adjustment)

o    After FY2010, states’ annual DSH allotments would return to 100% of the annual DSH allotments as determined under current law

·         Extends Moratoria on Medicaid Regulations [$100 million]

o    Extends moratoria on Medicaid regulations for targeted case management, provider taxes, and school-based administration and transportation services through June 30, 2009

o    Adds moratorium on Medicaid regulation for hospital outpatient services through June 30, 2009

o    Sense of Congress that the Secretary of HHS should not promulgate regulations concerning intergovernmental transfers, Graduate Medical Education, and rehabilitative services

·         Prompt Payment Requirements for Nursing Facilities and Hospitals [$680 million]

o    Applies prompt pay requirements to nursing facilities and hospitals in Medicaid

Infrastructure Provisions

·         Extending Broadband Services

o    Provides $7 billion for extending broadband services to underserved communities across the country.

·         Prioritizing Clean Water/Flood Control/Environmental Restoration

o    Provides $18 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments.

o    Experts note that $16 billion in water projects could be quickly obligated.

Science and Technology Provisions

·         Investing in Scientific Research (More than $15 Billion)

o    Provides $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, for basic research in fundamental science and engineering.

o    Provides $1.6 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which funds research in such areas as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences.

o    Provides $400 million for the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to support high-risk, high-payoff research into energy sources and energy efficiency in collaboration with industry.

o    Provides $580 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including the Technology Innovation Program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

o    Provides $8.5 billion for NIH, including expanding jobs in biomedical research to study diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, and heart disease.  

o    Provides $1 billion for NASA, including $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research.

o    Provides $1.5 billion for NIH to renovate university research facilities and help them compete for biomedical research grants.

Tax Provisions

·         Business Tax Incentives to Create Jobs and Spur Investment

o    Helps businesses quickly recover costs of new capital investments by extending the bonus depreciation and increased small business expensing for businesses making investments in plants and equipment in 2009.

o    Includes a variety of provisions to help small business, including small business expensing for investment in new plants and equipment, loss carry back for small businesses, a delay of the 3% withholding tax on payments to businesses that sell goods or services to governments, and a cut in the capital gains tax cut for investors in small businesses who hold stock for more than five years. 

o    Provides assistance to companies looking to reduce their debt burdens by delaying the tax on businesses that have discharged indebtedness.

o    Provides incentives to create new jobs with tax credits for hiring recently discharged unemployed veterans and youth that have been out of work and out of school for the 6 months prior to hire.

·         Tax Incentives for State and Local Economic Development

o    Includes provisions to enhance the marketability for state and local government bonds, which will reduce the costs they incur in financing state and local infrastructure projects.

o    Includes a new bond-financing program for school construction, rehabilitation, and repair.

·         Tax Relief for American Families

o    Provides tax relief to American workers through the Making Work Pay Tax Cut, a refundable tax credit of up to $400 per worker ($800 per couple filing jointly), phasing out completely at $200,000 for couples filing jointly and $100,000 for single filers.

o    Cuts taxes for the families of children through an expansion of the child tax credit (allowing families to begin qualifying for the child tax credit with every dollar earned over $3,000).

o    Expands the Earned Income Tax Credit by providing tax relief to families with three or more children and increasing marriage penalty relief.

o    Helps more than 4 million additional students attend college with a new, partially refundable $2,500 tax credit for families.

o    Protects 26 million middle-class families from being hit by the AMT. 

o    Helps first-time homebuyers and strengthens the housing market by enhancing the current credit for first-time home purchases with the removal of the repayment requirement.

o    Provides incentives to buy new cars, including light trucks and SUVs, with a tax deduction for State and local sales taxes paid on the purchase.

o    Temporarily suspends the taxation of some unemployment benefits. 

Additional Provisions

·         Extending and Improving Unemployment Benefits

o    Continues through December 2009 the extended unemployment benefits program (which provides up to 33 weeks of extended benefits) that is otherwise scheduled to begin to phase out at the end of March 2009.

o    Increases unemployment benefits for 20 million jobless workers by $25 per week, and encourages states to modernize their UI systems to keep up with the changing workforce with expanded coverage.

o    Temporarily suspends the taxation of some unemployment benefits.

·         Increasing Food Stamp Benefits

o    Increases food stamp benefits by over 13% to help offset rising food costs for more than 31 million Americans, half of whom are children.

·         Increasing Other Food Assistance

o    Provides other food assistance, including $100 million for Emergency Food and Shelter to help local community organizations provide food and shelter; $100 million for formula grants to states for elderly nutrition services including Meals on Wheels; and $150 million for the Emergency Food Assistance Program to purchase commodities for food banks to refill emptying shelves.

·         Helping Workers Find Jobs

o    Provides funding to help workers find jobs, including $4 billion for job training through formula grants for adult job training, dislocated worker job training, and youth services (including funding for summer jobs for young people); $500 million for Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants to help persons with disabilities prepare for gainful employment; $500 million to match unemployed individuals to job openings through state employment agencies; and $120 million to provide community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans.

·         Expanding Housing Assistance

o    Increases support for several critical housing programs, including providing $2 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to help communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant properties and $1.5 billion for the Emergency Shelter Grant program to provide short-term rental assistance and other aid for families during the economic crisis.

·         Providing Aid to Seniors, Disabled Veterans, and SSI Recipients

o    Provides a payment of $250 to Social Security beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and veterans receiving disability compensation and pension benefits from the VA. 

·         Extending TAA

o    Extends Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits for at least 160,000 new workers over the next two years who lose their jobs because of increased imports or factory shifts to certain foreign countries.

$5 billion to states as bonus grants for meeting key performance measures in education; and

-- $8 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.  

·         Making College More Affordable

o    Increases the higher education tax credit to a maximum of $2,500. Also makes it available to nearly 4 million low-income students who had not had any access to the higher education tax credit in the past by making it partially refundable.

o    Increases the maximum Pell Grant by $500, for a maximum of $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010.

o    Adds $200 million to the College Work-Study program.

·         Investing in Early Childhood Development

o    Provides $1.1 billion for Early Head Start and $1 billion for Head Start, which provide comprehensive development services to low-income infants and preschool children.

o    Provides $2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant to provide child care services to an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.

·         Providing Other Education Investments

o    Provides $13 billion for Title I grants to help disadvantaged kids reach high academic standards.

o    Provides $12.2 billion for grants for IDEA (Special Education) to increase the federal share of these costs.