February 13, 2009
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07), a member of the House Rules Committee, released the following statement about HR 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act tomorrow is a positive step towards creating or saving 3.5 million jobs now, investing in our future and avoiding a deeper recession in our nation.
In Colorado, this bill will create 60,000 jobs – 7,500 of which are in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District.
Companies in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, like PrimeStar Solar, which currently employs 65 employees in Arvada, will be able to add hundreds of jobs and ramp up production by the end of 2009. This bill gives Colorado’s green businesses the shot in the arm they need to grow and expand.
With this bill, half a million jobs will be created to develop a smart grid and energy efficiency across this country. This historic act invests in transit and infrastructure projects which will meet the needs of our growing population and provide new opportunities for small businesses to grow and prosper. It provides tax incentives to spur energy savings in homes across the country and lower health care costs so we create a good future for ourselves, our kids and our grandkids and leave them with a country they can be proud of.
The bottom line is this measure is a substantial step forward in getting our country on track so people can afford to sell their homes, pay for college and retire when they want to,” said Perlmutter.
Below are some of Rep. Perlmutter’s key priorities included within HR 1:
$1 billion for energy efficient upgrades to public housing – In 2008, a portion of Rep. Perlmutter’s GREEN Act (Green Resources for Energy Efficient Neighborhoods) included $250 million for a pilot HUD demonstration program providing state housing agencies grants to make energy retrofits and energy efficiency improvements to affordable housing units. The Recovery includes similar provisions to accomplish this goal.
Transit – The Recovery Act provides $8.4 billion for investments in transit. These investments will reduce traffic congestion and our dependence on foreign oil. While Perlmutter fought for an additional $3 billion for transit priorities in the House version of the Recovery Act, this $8.4 billion will allow RTD and Fastracks in the Denver-metro area to have access to funds that will help them complete ready-to-go ongoing transit projects.
An increase of $2 billion into the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund created in July of 2008 to help communities rehabilitate foreclosed homes in Energy Efficient ways. These funds will help stabilize the housing market, move people into vacated homes and generate property taxes for municipalities ravaged by the economic downturn.
Education -- This legislation will provide immediate relief to schools in the 7th Congressional District who will see an increase in Title I ($96,674,000 in Colorado through 2009) and IDEA funds ($ 148,731,000 in Colorado) over two years to help low-income and students with disabilities. The plan also creates a state stabilization fund of $53.6 billion ($752,445,000 for Colorado) to save jobs by staving off layoffs and harmful cuts to education. States could also use these funds to create new jobs by repairing, renovating and modernizing schools and colleges, providing students with clean, healthy, safe, energy-efficient and state-of-the-art learning classrooms and campuses.
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