Economic Stimulus Bill - H.R. 1, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

HR1 bill

Title: Making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes

Sponsor: Rep David Obey, {WI} introduced this on 1/26/2009

Related Bills: H.RES.88, H.RES.92, H.R.598, H.R.629, H.R.679

More about the bill:

• White House: Economy - new Obama administration has put up a page on the Economy. This page lists statements by the president on the plan and his inauguration speech. For current statements and actions, check out the blog.

Non-governmental sites

Text of H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - from Govtracks compares text of House and Senate versions and amendments.

• The Stimulus Plan: Where the Money Would Go - {java applet} explore the areas where the money in the plan will go and how it will be spent. {ProPublica is a nonprofit group that focuses on investigative journalism.}

• OpenCongress: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - amendments and actions on the bill with news reports; vote for or against and make comments. {OpenCongress is a nonprofit group that works to provide Congressional information easier to understand and respond to by citizens.}

Overall Economy

The Congressional Budget office has posted the

Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2009 to 2019 and expects that the current economic recession will “last until the second half of 2009, making it the longest recession since World War II.” The recession began in December 2007.

Some of the main predictions are:

1) This year, the deficit will be $1.2 trillion (8.3% of the GDP)

2) Unemployment rate will increase more than 9% at the beginning of 2010

3) Federal revenues will decrease by $166 billion from the amount it was in 2008

4) A further decline of 14% in the national average price of a home between 2008 and 2010

5) In 2010, there will be a slow economic revival and a growth of 1.5% in the real GDP

Next

Financial Stability.gov - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined a comprehensive plan to restore stability to our financial system: Obama Administration’s strategy to strengthen our economy by getting credit flowing again to families and businesses, while imposing new measures and conditions to strengthen accountability, oversight and transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent; explained how the financial stability plan will be critical in supporting an effective and lasting economic recovery.

Moving Forward

Recovery.gov -- figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the money is going -- to which states, to which congressional districts, even to which Federal contractors -- as it comes available

Stimulus Watch - nongovernmental organization formed "to help the Obama administration keep its pledge and to hold public officials to account", provides a list of proposed "shovel-ready projects" released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors; search for project information by state, city, keyword, or program type and indicates each program's cost and the number of jobs it would create; comment on proposed projects. Note that these projects are not part of the stimulus bill, and they may or may not be funded by it. Stimulus Watch gives you an opportunity to find out what's being proposed so that you can contribute to the discussion on how taxpayer dollars are being used.