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The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(Pub.L.
111-5) is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United
States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama
on February 17, 2009. The Act of Congress was based largely on
proposals made by President Obama and is intended to provide a
stimulus to the U.S. economy in the wake of the economic downturn.
The measures are nominally worth $787 billion. The Act includes
federal tax relief, expansion of unemployment benefits and other
social welfare provisions, and domestic spending in education,
health care, and infrastructure, including the energy sector.
The Act also includes numerous non-economic recovery related items
that were either part of longer-term plans (e.g. a study of the
effectiveness of medical treatments) or desired by Congress (e.g.
a limitation on executive compensation in federally aided banks
added by Senator Dodd and Rep. Frank). The government action is
much larger than the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which consisted
primarily of tax rebate checks.
From
the website www.Recovery.gov
- Save
and create more than 3.5 million jobs over the next two years;
- Take
a big step toward computerizing Americans’ health records,
reducing medical errors, and saving billions in health care
costs;
- Revive
the renewable energy industry and provide the capital over the
next three years to eventually double domestic renewable energy
capacity;
- Undertake
the largest weatherization program in history by modernizing
75 percent of federal building space and more than one million
homes;
- Increase
college affordability for seven million students by funding
the shortfall in Pell Grants, increasing the maximum award level
by $500, and providing a new higher education tax cut to nearly
four million students;
- As
part of the $150 billion investment in new infrastructure, enact
the largest increase in funding of our nation’s roads,
bridges, and mass transit systems since the creation of the
national highway system in the 1950s;
- Provide
an $800 Making Work Pay tax credit for 129 million working households,
and cut taxes for the families of millions of children through
an expansion of the Child Tax Credit;
- Require
unprecedented levels of transparency, oversight, and accountability.
In
the face of an economic crisis, the magnitude of which we have
not seen since the Great Depression, the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act represents a strategic -- and significant --
investment in our country’s future.
The
Act will save and create three to four million jobs, 90 percent
of them in the private sector. It will provide more than $150
billion to low-income and vulnerable households -- spurring increased
economic activity that will save and create more than one million
jobs.
These
measures are necessary to help the millions of families whose
lives have been upended by the economic crisis. But, this Act
will do more than provide short-term stimulus. By modernizing
our health care, improving our schools, modernizing our infrastructure,
and investing in the clean energy technologies of the future,
the Act will lay the foundation for a robust and sustainable 21st
century economy.
The
full bill is here
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