Stimulus Package Pie Chart
January 16, 2009
The House Committee on Appropriations has released details of its massive $835 billion economic stimulus package (a/k/a the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009), and the New York Times' Catherine Rampell does her best to break it down for taxpayers who'll be footing the bill.
(HT: Tim Kane, Growthology blog)
According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy,
[The] economic-stimulus package... proposes billions of dollars in spending on Medicaid and other federal programs that will help nonprofit groups in cash-strapped states meet spiking demand for social services.
It also proposes spending $200-million to allow AmeriCorps, the national-service program, to expand by 16,000 members to help vulnerable people during the recession, and $50-million to allow the National Endowment for the Arts to provide grants to struggling arts groups....
Many nonprofit leaders and experts have proposed that the stimulus package include billions of dollars of spending to help charities both weather the recession and put people to work solving the country’s problems...
This package does not take up those ideas, although many of the measures to bolster the social safety net and state finances would trickle down to charities that rely on government revenue....
On the Growthology blog, Kane notes that while "some of the stimulus looks smart," the package may not do what it's supposed to -- reinflate the sagging economy. What do you think? Has the House come up with a viable plan? And should the final package include billions of additional dollars to help charities and nonprofits?
-- Regina Mahone
Posted by Scott Rooks | January 17, 2009 at 08:14 AM
Check this out...$275B for tax cuts. Why would that not spur the economy not to mention $79B to tate relief funds aka nonprofit grants,$41B in local school districts, etc.
It has the potential to do good for sure but how will the states and gov't agencies utilize the funds takes on a new meaning so it's a wait and see what the lawmakers say and how well they are listened to from the below point of dispersal.
Posted by richard | January 18, 2009 at 03:54 PM
Let's hope they don't use any of that money for the bizarre, unpoular and socially disturbing PA BRIDGE TO NOWHERE proposal in Philadelphia to tear the heart, the art, out of one of our Nation's greatest cultural and educational Landmarks, The Barnes Foundation in Merion, PA and move it to anchor a Barnes Luxury Tower Development & Tourist attraction.
A humanitarian, an educator and a populist, Dr. Barnes was an early defender of Racial Equality in America and his legacy should be preserved intact in Merion according to his wishes. One of our Nation's earliest and greatest Art Collectors, his collection may hold the very key to understanding the mysterious origins of Modern Art.
Designed by America's Architect, WWI veteran, Dr. Paul Cret, The Barnes in Merion is one of America's greatest places of peace and repose and it may be a homage to our Unknown Soldiers of WWI. Voices from the Smithsonian, The WSJ, The New Yorker, The LA Times and more have condemned the Proposed Move.
Philadelphians, themselves, voted overwhelmingly for the 2008 ANTIMOVE candidate for PA Att'y General who campaigned against the move in Philly. Thoughtful people the world over do not want the Move.
The Pew Trusts & The Annenberg & Lenfest Foundations are backing this disturbing proposal in flagrant disregard of America's Cultural heritage and they should be encouraged to spend more on real charity and less on such distasteful ventures that the public and region do not seem to want. KEEP THE BARNES IN MERION. GUARD THE BARNES GATE! NO TARP FOR PHILLY'S BRIDGE TO NOWHERE PROJECT! STOP THE MOVE! for more, see Barnesfriends.org or Artjail.org
Posted by Regina Mahone | January 20, 2009 at 03:39 PM
Good point. For now, we can only hope that if the bailout is approved by the House, the government places the funds in the right hands.
The Appropriations Committee chairman, Representative David R. Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin, stated, "You have to look at this bill as not a salvation for the economy by any means...It is simply the largest effort by any legislative body on the planet to try to take government action to prevent economic catastrophe, and even that may be insufficient."
We can at least commend their efforts. Better yet, let's wait and see...
Posted by Billy | January 31, 2009 at 03:12 AM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310466514522309.html
by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus
$1 billion for Amtrak
$400 million for global-warming research
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
$2 billion for child-care subsidies
$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts
$600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars (they already spend $3 billion a year on them)
$81 billion for Medicaid
$20 billion for food stamps
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$83 billion for people who don't pay income tax
$54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits
$66 billion on education - that's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush
$40 billion for broadband and electric grid development
$650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons
and of course:
$4.19 billion to ACORN and similar orgs
$335 million for STD prevention
$2.25 billion to national parks from representative Obey for his lobbyist son