Washington, D.C. &emdash; Congressman Ellison (D-Minneapolis) announced that nearly $160 million "Stimulus" dollars have come to the 5th Congressional District as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Recovery Act”) passed earlier this year by the Congress.

These investments include tax cuts for families and critical funds for new roads and improved highways, improved schools, safer communities, and modernized energy systems. Key funds include:

Transportation and infrastructure: $ 8.8 Million
Education: $24.9 Million Social Security: $22.3 Million
Small Business Administration: $12.7 Million

Congress passed The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Recovery Act”) this past January injecting $787 billion into the economy as a way of stimulating jobs and strengthening the economy.

Our economic problems have been years in the making and they won’t be solved overnight – but the Recovery Act has helped pull us back from the brink of disaster and we are headed in the right direction. In less than 150 days, the Recovery Act, along with other economic initiatives, has worked to stabilize economic conditions and help those hurt by the economic crisis. We are moving from a long economic slowdown to a time of new industry, opportunity and innovation. We acted quickly, immediately after the Recovery Act was signed – moving assistance to hard-hit families, businesses and state governments to help those harmed by the recession. Already, across the country, the Recovery Act is making a major difference.

• $43 billion in tax cuts to working families have been delivered directly to workers’ paychecks and to first-time homebuyers.
• $65 billion is helping states to fund Medicaid, support education programs, save jobs, and jump-start shovel-ready transportation projects.
• More than 35,000 projects have been approved, including nearly 2,000 transportation projects already underway.

The following are a list of Recovery Act projects in Minnesota’s 5th District. Note that the projects listed are not an exhaustive list of Recovery Act funded efforts in the District, nor are all projects entirely within a single Congressional District. The list does, however, provide an indication of Recovery Act activity in the 5th Congressional District:

• MSP/ST Airport Air Reserve Station
  $2,049,000
  Facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization
• NOVA MIE
  $40,064,000
  Fully fund the cooperative agreement with the University of Minnesota.
• US Courthouse
  $2,976,632
  High Performance Green Building Limited Scope
• Whipple Federal Building (Fort Snelling)
  $115,130,000
  High Performance Green Building Modernization
• American Indian OIC
  $5,214
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Building Blocks of Islam
  $4,100
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Catholic Charities
  $30,000
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese
  $34,500
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Centre of Asians and Pacific Islanders
  $3,700
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Centro Cultural Chicano
  $4,500
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Community Emergency Services
  $20,000
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• East Side Neighborhood Services
  $2,800
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Progam
• East Side Neighborhood Services, Inc.
  $4,700
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Progam
• Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery
  $13,700
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• The House of Charity
  $12,200
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Masjid An-Nur
  $6,400
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• The Network for Better Futures
  $13,000
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Our Saviours Outreach
  $17,000
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• People Serving People
  $20,500
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• The Sabathani Community Center
  $7,000
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Salvation Army, Harbor Light
  $24,500
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Simpson Housing Services
  $17,500
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• St. Stephen’s Human Services
  $21,000
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Step – St. Louis Park Emergency Program
  $10,000
  Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
• Booth Manor/Salvation Army
  $36,120
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Hopkins Village Apartments, AL.P.
  $149,848
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Kosciolek House
  $106,535
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Loring 100 Apartments
  $749,853
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Menorah Plaza
  $125,005
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Menorah West Apartments
  $46,189
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Plymouth Avenue Townhouses
  $81,285
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Seward Tower East
  $297,324
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Seward Tower West
  $165,565
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• St. Paul’s Home
  $25,460
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Stevens Community
  $355,888
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• Walker On Kenzie
  $190,048
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• West Bank Homes III
  $49,176
  New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation and/or Loan Management Set-Aside Programs
• I-94 Maple Grove to the Hennepin/Wright Co. Line- Rebuild Cable Median Barrier
  $3,424,000
  Repairs & Improvements
• Th 169: I-494 to I-94, Lighting Replacement
  $5,350,000
  Repairs & Improvements
• Th 7: at Wooddale Ave – Const a Grade Separated Interchange, Etc. & New Bridge #27B65 Fr Cp Rr CR # 51
  $957,500
  Repairs & Improvements
• Th 7: at Wooddale Ave – Const a Grade Separated Interchange, Etc & New Bridge #27B65 Fr Cp Rr CR #51
  $2,507,500
  Repairs & Improvements
• Veterans Health Admin Facility Renovations
  $1,621,883
  Improvements
• Veterans Health Admin Facility Renovations
  $8,588
  Improvements
• Veterans Health Admin Facility Renovations
  $98,015
  Improvements

Further American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Data can be found at www.recovery.gov

Budgets may seem like nothing more than numbers and projections, but they are statements about our country's values and priorities. We’ve had eight long years of budgets that did not invest in the needs of working families. President Obama’s budget is the first step in taking our country in a new direction.

The Democratic budget is a blueprint to stabilize the economy and put Minnesotans back to work, which is my top priority. We’ve passed legislation that will create jobs through targeted stimulus spending, just the first of many steps to rebuild our economy. We need to return to a sound fiscal policy that restores confidence for both investors on Wall Street and consumers on Lake Street. We must make sensible regulatory changes and take a hard look at what caused the collapse of our financial system.

The President's budget invests in education, healthcare, and renewable energy. Our goal is prosperity for working families. To accomplish this, we will start with the twin foundations of affordable healthcare for all Americans, and quality, competitive education for our children. Additionally, we will invest in green energy to create well-paying jobs that cannot be outsourced.