American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Federal departments
and agencies are actively working to begin to implement the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed into law on February 17.
Interested parties can monitor the progress on the www.recovery.gov
website.
In addition, in some
cases, key information about the implementation of the Recovery Act is already
available on the recovery websites of federal departments. For example, in
some cases, there are state-by-state tables on the allocations of the funding
being provided under the Act.
All interested
parties are encouraged to continually monitor the recovery pages of the
individual federal departments in order to obtain the most up-to-date
information about the Act’s implementation.
Some of the key
recovery websites of federal departments that it would be worthwhile to monitor
include the following:
www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204335,00.html?portlet=6
In the last couple of
weeks, certain key actions have been taken by Obama Administration officials to
begin releasing Recovery Act funds to the states and local governments, such as:
·
The allocation of $10 billion by HUD to state and local recipients
for eight specific programs on February 25;
·
The release of $15 billion in Medicaid Fiscal Relief funds to the
states on February 25;
·
The release of $155 million for Community Health Centers on March
2;
·
The release of $27 billion for highway and bridge
construction and repair on March 3; and
·
The release of $8.4 billion for public transit projects on March
4.
Following is an
overview:
Department
of Agriculture
The Recovery Act
provides $28 billion for programs administered by the USDA. The Act provides
$19.8 billion to increase the monthly amount of nutrition assistance to 28
million people. Enables expanded opportunities for broadband loans and grants to
rural communities. It also expands funding opportunities to develop water and
waste facilities and provides funding to protect and conserve the nation's
forests and farm land. www.usda.gov/recovery
Department
of Housing and Urban Development
The Recovery Act
provides a total of $13.6 billion for projects and programs administered by HUD.
Nearly 75 percent of that total – or $10.1 billion – was allocated to state
and local recipients on February 25, 2009.
Following is an
overview of the $10.1 billion that was allocated to state and local recipients
on February 25, by program. A map of the
Promoting
Energy Efficiency & Creating Green Jobs
·
$3 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund (PHCF)
·
$255 million for Native American Housing Block Grants (NABF)
·
$10.2 million for Native Hawaiian Housing Grants (NHHG)
·
$100 million for Lead Hazard Reduction (LHR)
Supporting
Shovel-Ready Projects and Assisted Housing Improvements
·
$2.25 billion for the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP)
·
$2 billion for Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA)
·
$1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)
Helping
Families Hardest Hit by the Economic Crisis
·
$1.5 billion for Homelessness Prevention Fund (HPF)
Department
of Health and Human Services
Medicaid
The Recovery Act
protects health care coverage for millions of Americans during this recession,
by providing a total of $87 billion in additional federal matching funds to the
states for Medicaid over a 27-month period – beginning October 1, 2008 through
December 31, 2009. This Medicaid Fiscal Relief for the states is designed
to help the states -- in the face of an unprecedented, massive state fiscal
crisis -- to avoid further cuts in Medicaid enrollment and coverage.
President Obama
announced on February 23 that states would be able to access the first two
quarters of this Medicaid Fiscal Relief starting on February 25 – totaling $15
billion.
A state-by-state
table can be found at: http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/statefunds.html
Community
Health Centers
On March 2, President
Obama announced the release of $155 million in Recovery Act funds – the first
installment of this $2 billion appropriation – to support 126 Community Health
Centers across the country. These grants totaling $155 million alone will
help provide health services to 750,000 Americans and create 5,500 jobs.
A list of the 126
Community Health Centers receiving this first installment of Recovery Act
funding for Community Health Centers can be found at: http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/hrsa/applicant.html
Department
of Transportation
Construction
and Repair of Highways & Bridges
The Recovery Act
provides a total of $27 billion for building and repairing highways, roads, and
bridges.
On March 3, President
Obama announced the release of the entire $27 billion to states and local
transportation authorities to repair and build highways, roads and bridges.
This investment will lead to 150,000 jobs saved or created by the end of 2010.
State highway departments have already identified more than 100 transportation
projects across the country, totaling more than $750 million, where construction
can start within the month.
A map of the
Public
Transit
The Recovery Act
provides a total of $8.4 billion for public transit projects.
On March 4, Vice
President Biden and Secretary of Transportation LaHood announced that the entire
$8.4 billion has been made available to repair and build public transportation
infrastructure throughout the country.
A
state-by-state table, showing how much of the $8.4 billion each state has been
allocated can be found at: http://www.recovery.gov/?q=node/202
Department
of Labor
The Recovery Act
provides an increase in unemployment benefits for all eligible individuals of
$25 per week. These extra benefits are 100 percent federally-funded.
On February 26, the
Labor Department announced that the implementation of this provision was
beginning in some states as early as the week of March 1. Over the next
several weeks, all states will be implementing this increase. The $25
weekly increase is retroactive, covering weeks of unemployment beginning
February 22.
More information can
be found at the Labor Department’s recovery website: http://www.dol.gov/recovery
.
Department
of Education
The Education
Department’s recovery website, which can be found at http://www.ed.gov/recovery,
has some state-by-state tables showing preliminary estimates of how Recovery Act
funding for numerous education programs will be allocated, including such
programs as the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Title I, IDEA (Special
Education) Part B Grants to States, Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants,
Federal Work-Study, and Pell Grants.
Department
of Justice
The Justice
Department’s recovery website also includes some useful information.
For example, the
website contains the state and local allocations for the $2 billion in Recovery
Act funds that were provided for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grants (JAG)
program. This critical program supports local law enforcement efforts by
helping to fund equipment and operating costs. The specific website where
the state and local allocations can be found is: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/recoveryJAG/recoveryallocations.html
.
Internal
Revenue Service
The IRS website has
details on many of the tax changes in the Recovery Act, including details about
the Making Work Pay tax cut that will start increasing Americans’ paychecks by
April 1st .
The specific IRS
website with the information on the Recovery Act provisions is:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204335,00.html?portlet=6
A
Useful Overview of Programs Funded in the Recovery Act
The Council of State
Governments has released a useful report that summarizes all of the relevant
provisions of the Recovery Act, including a list of every funded program.
The report is entitled, “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:
A Guide for State and Local Governments.”
This report can
be found at: http://www.staterecovery.org/federal-assistance
.