AID TO POOR AND UNEMPLOYED
- $40 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through
Dec. 31, and increase them by $25 a week; $20 billion to increase
food stamp benefits by 14 percent; $4 billion for job training; $3
billion in temporary welfare payments.
DIRECT CASH PAYMENTS
- $14 billion to give one-time $250 payments to Social Security
recipients, poor people on Supplemental Security Income, and
veterans receiving disability and pensions.
INFRASTRUCTURE
- $46 billion for transportation projects, including $27 billion
for highway and bridge construction and repair; $8.4 billion for
mass transit; $8 billion for construction of high-speed railways
and $1.3 billion for Amtrak; $4.6 billion for the Army Corps of
Engineers; $4 billion for public housing improvements; $6.4 billion
for clean and drinking water projects; $7 billion to bring
broadband Internet service to underserved areas.
HEALTH CARE
- $21 billion to provide a 60 percent subsidy of health care
insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program; $87
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.
STATE BLOCK GRANTS
- $8 billion in aid to states to defray 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 so-called "smart
electricity grid" to reduce waste; $13.9 billion to subsidize
loans for renewable energy projects; $6.3 billion in state energy
efficiency and clean energy grants; and $4.5 billion make federal
buildings more energy efficient.
EDUCATION
- $47 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state
aid to school districts, with great flexibility to use the funds
for school modernization and repair; $25 billion to school
districts to fund special education and the No Child Left Behind
law for students in K-12; $17 billion to boost the maximum Pell
Grant by $500 to $5,350; $2 billion for Head Start.
SCIENCE
- $3 billion for the National Science Foundation for basic
science and engineering research; $1 billion for NASA; $1.6 billion
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 to
hire officers and purchase equipment.
---
Taxes
NEW TAX CREDIT
- Approximately $115 billion for a $400 per-worker, $800
per-couple tax credits in 2009 and 2010. For the last half of 2009,
workers could expect to see perhaps $13 a week less withheld from
their paychecks starting around June. Millions of Americans who
don't make enough money to pay federal income taxes could file
returns next year and receive checks. Individuals making more than
$75,000 and couples making more than $150,000 would receive reduced
amounts.
ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX
- About $70 billion to spare about 24 million taxpayers from
being hit with the alternative minimum tax in 2009. The change
would save a family of four an average of $2,300. The tax was
designed to make sure wealthy taxpayers can't use credits and
deductions to avoid paying any taxes. But it was never indexed to
inflation, so families making as little as $45,000 could get
significant increases without the change. Congress addresses it
each year, usually in the fall.
EXPANDED COLLEGE CREDIT
- About $13 billion to provide a $2,500 expanded tax credit for
college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010. The credit
is phased out for couples making more than $160,000.
RENEWABLE ENERGY INCENTIVES
- $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy
efficiency over 10 years, including: extending tax credits for
energy produced from wind, geothermal, hydropower and landfill gas;
grants to build renewable energy facilities; tax credits for
purchases of energy-efficient furnaces, windows and doors, or
insulation; tax credit for families that purchase plug-in hybrid
vehicles.
HOMEBUYER CREDIT
- $3.7 billion to repeal a requirement that a $8,000 first-time
home buyer tax credit be paid back over time for homes purchased
from Jan. 1 to August 31, unless the home is sold within three
years.
BONUS DEPRECIATION
- $5 billion to extend a provision allowing businesses buying
equipment such as computers to speed up its depreciation through
2009.
AUTO SALES
- $2.5 billion to makes sales tax on paid on new car purchases
tax deductible.
NEW YORK AND TRI-STATE AREA NEWS
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