The proposed plan to stimulate our economy-- through the eyes of a citizen.

Okay, I’m not a big poly sci guy but after reading half (all I could handle) of the 675 page ‘‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009’’, I am even more confused.
I always thought our government went through a very deliberate budgeting process.
I also assumed the A.R.R.A. was designed to stimulate our economy.

After reading, it seems that massive amounts of money (more 000,000,000’s than I have ever seen in one doc) are trying to be appropriated without the usual diligence and there are very few items in it that could be interpreted as ‘economy stimulating.’


I. Administration impressions:
Each governmental department receives billions worth of new ‘administrative allocations’ that would not be necessary if we did not have this package.
Examples:

Page 27
6 SEC. 1230. FUNDING.
7 There is hereby appropriated to the Board (the established oversight board)
8 $14,000,000 to carry out this subtitle.
Page 9
15 SEC. 1107. APPROPRIATIONS FOR INSPECTORS GENERAL.
16 In addition to funds otherwise made available in this
17 Act, there are hereby appropriated the following sums to
18 the specified Offices of Inspector General, to remain avail19
able until September 30, 2013, for oversight and audit of
20 programs, grants, and projects funded under this Act:
21 (1) ‘‘Department of Agriculture—Office of In22
spector General’’, $22,500,000.
23 (2) ‘‘Department of Commerce—Office of In24
spector General’’, $10,000,000.

Page 10
1 (3) ‘‘Department of Defense—Office of the In2
spector General’’, $15,000,000.
3 (4) ‘‘Department of Education—Departmental
4 Management—Office of the Inspector General’’,
5 $14,000,000.
6 (5) ‘‘Department of Energy—Office of Inspec7
tor General’’, $15,000,000.
8 (6) ‘‘Department of Health and Human Serv9
ices—Office of the Secretary—Office of Inspector
10 General’’, $19,000,000.
11 (7) ‘‘Department of Homeland Security—Office
12 of Inspector General’’, $2,000,000.
13 (8) ‘‘Department of Housing and Urban Devel14
opment—Management and Administration—Office
15 of Inspector General’’, $15,000,000.
16 (9) ‘‘Department of the Interior—Office of In17
spector General’’, $15,000,000.
18 (10) ‘‘Department of Justice—Office of Inspec19
tor General’’, $2,000,000.
20 (11) ‘‘Department of Labor—Departmental
21 Management—Office of Inspector General’’,
22 $6,000,000.
23 (12) ‘‘Department of Transportation—Office of
24 Inspector General’’, $20,000,000.

Page 11
1 (13) ‘‘Department of Veterans Affairs—Office
2 of Inspector General’’, $1,000,000.
3 (14) ‘‘Environmental Protection Agency—Office
4 of Inspector General’’, $20,000,000.
5 (15) ‘‘General Services Administration—Gen6
eral Activities—Office of Inspector General’’,
7 $15,000,000.
8 (16) ‘‘National Aeronautics and Space Adminis9
tration—Office of Inspector General’’, $2,000,000.
10 (17) ‘‘National Science Foundation—Office of
11 Inspector General’’, $2,000,000.
12 (18) ‘‘Small Business Administration—Office of
13 Inspector General’’, $10,000,000.
14 (19) ‘‘Social Security Administration—Office of
15 Inspector General’’, $2,000,000.
16 (20) ‘‘Corporation for National and Community
17 Service—Office of Inspector General’’, $1,000,000.

Total 194,500,000 in unallocated general admin expenses.

II. Allocation impressions:
This is a money allocation more than a ‘stimulus’
There are moneys for standing general budget items like Mississippi river corp of engineer programs, NASA, police/law enforcement

Examples:

Page 49
1 BUREAU OF THE CENSUS
2 PERIODIC CENSUSES AND PROGRAMS
3 For an additional amount for ‘‘Periodic Censuses and
4 Programs’’, $1,000,000,000: Provided, That section 1106
5 of this Act shall not apply to funds provided under this
6 heading.

Page 62
9 (10) $1,000,000,000 shall be for expenses nec
10 essary for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
11 authorized under section 136(b)(1)(B) of the Energy
12 Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C.
13 17013(b)(1)(B)):

Page 75
3 … which not less than $6,000,000,000 shall be used for con
4struction, repair, and alteration of Federal buildings for
5 projects that will create the greatest impact on energy effi
6 ciency and conservation;

Page 103
15 TITLE VII—HOMELAND
16 SECURITY
17 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
18 U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
19 SALARIES AND EXPENSES
20 For an additional amount for ‘‘Salaries and Ex21
penses’’, $100,000,000, for non-intrusive detection tech22
nology to be deployed at sea ports of entry.

Page 112
14 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
15 CONSTRUCTION
16 (INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
17 For an additional amount for ‘‘Construction’’,
18 $1,700,000,000, for projects to address critical deferred
19 maintenance needs within the National Park System, in20
cluding roads, bridges and trails, and for other critical in21
frastructure projects:

Page 114
15 BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
16 CONSTRUCTION
17 (INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
18 For an additional amount for ‘‘Construction’’,
19 $500,000,000, for priority repair and replacement of
20 schools, detention centers, roads, bridges, employee hous21
ing, and critical deferred maintenance projects:

Page 116
1 STATE AND TRIBAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS
2 For an additional amount for ‘‘State and Tribal As3
sistance Grants’’, $8,400,000,000, which shall be used as
4 follows:

Page 198
1 SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
2 LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES
3 (INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
4 For an additional amount for ‘‘Limitation on Admin
5 istrative Expenses’’, $900,000,000, which shall be used as
6 follows:
7 (1) $400,000,000 for the construction and asso8
ciated costs to establish a new National Computer
9 Center,

Page 201
3 MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, DEFENSE-WIDE
4 For an additional amount for ‘‘Military Construction,
5 Defense-Wide’’, $3,750,000,000, for the construction of
6 hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers:

III. Actual stimulation: (I think)
Some things seem to make sense to get our country moving in the right direction, but are worded so incredibly vague I wonder if they will achieve their purpose/objectives:

Example:

Page 63
3 (3) $1,000,000,000 shall be for the cost of
4 grants to institutional entities for energy sustain5
ability and efficiency under section 399A of the En6
ergy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6371h-
7 1).

Page 67
10 SCIENCE
11 For an additional amount for ‘‘Science’’,
12 $2,000,000,000: Provided, That of such amounts, not less
13 than $400,000,000 shall be used for the Advanced Re14
search Projects Agency—Energy authorized under section
15 5012 of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16538):
16 Provided further, That of such amounts, not less than
17 $100,000,000 shall be used for advanced scientific com18
puting.

Page 94
1 SEC. 6204. ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROGRAM.
2 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to es
3 tablish a new lending and refinancing authority within the
4 Small Business Administration.

Page 123
4 TITLE IX—LABOR, HEALTH AND
5 HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDU6
CATION
7 Subtitle A—Labor
8 DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
9 EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION
10 TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
11 For an additional amount for ‘‘Training and Employ12
ment Services’’ for activities under the Workforce Invest13
ment Act of 1998 (‘‘WIA’’), $4,000,000,000, which shall
14 be available for obligation on the date of enactment of this
15 Act, as follows:

Page 157
11 Subtitle C—Education
12 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
13 EDUCATION FOR THE DISADVANTAGED
14 For an additional amount for ‘‘Education for the Dis15
advantaged’’ to carry out title I of the Elementary and
16 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (‘‘ESEA’’),
17 $13,000,000,000:

Page 160
15 SPECIAL EDUCATION
16 For an additional amount for ‘‘Special Education’’
17 for carrying out section 611 and part C of the Individuals
18 with Disabilities Education Act (‘‘IDEA’’),
19 $13,600,000,000:

Page 237- the biggest line item I think
12 TITLE XIII—STATE FISCAL
13 STABILIZATION FUND
14 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
15 STATE FISCAL STABILIZATION FUND
16 For necessary expenses for a State Fiscal Stabiliza17
tion Fund, $79,000,000,000, which shall be administered
18 by the Department of Education, of which
19 $39,500,000,000 shall become available on July 1, 2009
20 and remain available through September 30, 2010, and
21 $39,500,000,000 shall become available on July 1, 2010
22 and remain available through September 30, 2011:

IV. Transparency: (I think)
At least we will be able to watch
Page 17
11 (2) OPERATIONAL FUNDING.—With respect to
12 funds made available under this Act in the form of
13 grants for operational purposes to State or local gov
14ernment agencies or other organizations, the agency
15 or organization shall publish on the website Recov
16 ery.gov a description of the intended use of the
17 funds, including the number of jobs sustained or cre
18 ated.
19 (c) AVAILABILITY ON INTERNET OF CONTRACTS AND
20 GRANTS.—Each contract awarded or grant issued using
21 funds made available in this Act shall be posted on the
22 Internet and linked to the website Recovery.gov. Propri
23etary data that is required to be kept confidential under
24 applicable Federal or State law or regulation shall be re
25dacted before posting.


V. Misc oddness:

Page 14
1 SEC. 1112. ADDITIONAL ASSURANCE OF APPROPRIATE USE
2 OF FUNDS.
3 None of the funds provided by this Act may be made
4 available to the State of Illinois, or any agency of the
5 State, unless (1) the use of such funds by the State is
6 approved in legislation enacted by the State after the date
7 of the enactment of this Act, or (2) Rod R. Blagojevich
8 no longer holds the office of Governor of the State of Illi9
nois. The preceding sentence shall not apply to any funds
10 provided directly to a unit of local government (1) by a
11 Federal department or agency, or (2) by an established
12 formula from the State.
Page 115
17 subtitle I of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, $200,000,000,
18 which shall be used to carry out leaking underground stor19
age tank cleanup activities
Page 117
23 (2) $2,000,000,000 shall be for capitalization
24 grants for the Drinking Water State Revolving
25 Funds
Page 147
1 (4) not less than $335,000,000 shall be used as
2 an additional amount to carry out domestic HIV/
3 AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually-transmitted diseases,
4 and tuberculosis prevention programs, as jointly de
5termined by the Secretary and the Director;