The Stimulus Bill Passes

The bill passed with the expected votes from Republican senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine and Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania. Does this mean that this vote is "bipartisan"? Hardly; these senators, who call themselves "moderate" republicans, may as well switch parties based on their voting history. These three republicans indicated that they were voting yes because the democrats had changed and reduced the bill by $100 billion. But the Senate democrats had raised the $819 billion House bill by $100 billion. So the final Senate bill of $834 billion ends being slightly more than the $819 billion House bill. Is the new bill a different bill? Who knows? It is not easy to sift through the text of either the House or the Senate bill.

Regardless of the differences there may be between the two bills, the final version will still be the huge spending bill that Obama wants. Bill O'Reilly and others in the media are asking how it is that Obama has allowed Nancy Pelosi to get away with a bill full of the usual Congress pet projects. As if Obama had nothing to do with the contents of this legislation! Let’s not kid ourselves. This is the bill that Mr. Obama has wanted; he asked for these items. One has only to read his inaugural address and his Agenda, which includes The President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan in the White House website. If you read this plan and compare it to the stimulus bill you will see how the bill follows Mr. Obama's plan. Here are some some examples:

Obama's Plan: 95% of working families will receive a $1,000 tax cut
Stimulus Bill: $275 billion: Payroll tax cuts ($500 for each individual, $1000 for couples)

Obama's Plan: double the production of alternative energy in the next three years
Stimulus Bill: $20 billion for renewable energy tax cuts

Obama's Plan: modernize more than 75% of federal buildings
Stimulus Bill: $6.7 billion to renovate and improve energy efficiency at federal buildings.

Obama's Plan: improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes
Stimulus Bill: $6 billion for weatherizing modest-income homes

Obama's Plan: ensure that all of America’s medical records are computerized
Stimulus Bill: $20 billion for health information technology, including electronic medical records

Obama's Plan: save the public sector jobs of teachers, cops, firefighters and others who provide vital services.
Stimulus Bill: $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services

Obama's Plan: Equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries
Stimulus Bill: $41 billion to local school districts through Title I; $6 billion for higher education modernization

Obama's Plan: Help Americans who have lost their jobs with extensions of unemployment insurance and healthcare coverage
Stimulus Bill: $39 billion for short-term Medicaid insurance and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) subsidy

Now, some of these pet/pork items perhaps were not requested by Obama, but he has not asked Congress to change the bill or to remove these items. The following are some of many in this bill. Are any job-producing, other than temporary, one-project jobs? What happens to the jobs when each of these projects is completed?

• $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 wild land 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

This bill has probably been in the works by the Obama people since the beginning of the campaign. The Agenda has been carefully planned. Obama is smartly executing his plan as soon as possible before he loses popularity.