The Collapse of the U.S. Economy

House Passes $447 Billion Spending Bill

December 10, 2009

Reuters - The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a $447 billion bill that boosts funding for a large part of the U.S. government and reflects priorities of Democrats who control Congress and the White House.

The House approved the spending bill by a vote of 221 to 202 and sent it to the Senate, which must pass it by December 18 or extend a temporary measure to keep the government running. The measure would fund dozens of government agencies through the rest of the 2010 fiscal year, which ends next September 30.

No Republicans voted for it. They blasted the 2,444-page measure as an irresponsible 14 percent spending increase for domestic programs at a time of record government deficits.

The measure would boost spending for the priorities of President Barack Obama's administration, such as building high-speed rail and beefing up oversight of financial markets. It would boost lending programs for small businesses, which the administration has identified as a way to bring down the nation's 10 percent unemployment rate. In addition, the many car dealerships cut loose by General Motors Co. and Chrysler would be given a way to try to maintain their affiliations with those auto makers.

The bill also advances liberal social policies, reversing restrictions put in place by former President George W. Bush and his Republican allies. Needle-exchange programs for drug addicts -- intended to ensure that diseases such as AIDS are not spread by infected needles shared by injection drug users -- would have an easier time getting federal funding under the measure. Abstinence-only sex-education programs for schoolchildren would get less money. The measure would reverse a ban on the ability of Washington, D.C. to use local funds to pay for abortions. The capital city, unlike the 50 U.S. states, is subject to congressional control. The provision could tie up the bill in the Senate, where Republicans want to strip the language out.

'ERA OF BIG GOVERNMENT'

The bill includes $3.9 billion in so-called earmarks to fund 5,224 pet projects in various lawmakers' home districts, according to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

"There is no question that the era of big government has returned to Washington," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

Democrats said the increases would reverse years of atrophy under Bush and fight the worst recession since the 1930s through programs like worker retraining.

"We are in the process of trying to deal with years of neglect and we're in the process of trying to deal with an economic emergency," said Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey.

The price tag does not include hundreds of billions of dollars in entitlement programs providing health insurance and retirement benefits to millions of Americans that Congress does not control directly. The Medicare health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled, for example, is expected to cost $514 billion this fiscal year and the Social Security retirement program will cost $698 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Fiscal 2010 began on October 1, but Congress has not passed spending bills for the year. In fact, Congress has not passed spending bills on time since 1994.

Lawmakers next week are expected to take up the largest spending bill of all -- a $600 billion-plus measure that funds the Pentagon, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FACTBOX: Highlights of $447 billion House spending bill

Congress Considers $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill to Fund Federal Government

December 9, 2009

FOXNews.com - Congressional negotiators have come to an agreement on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government after the middle of this month.

This spending bill would fund nine Cabinet agencies and all the programs within them for the fiscal year that began in October.

It also includes $49 billion for foreign aid, a third more than last year.

NASA would get $18.7 billion, almost a billion dollars more than last year.

A heating program for the poor would get $5.1 billion, about 40 percent more than President Obama requested.

Another $2.5 billion would go to high speed trains, in addition to the $8 billion in the stimulus package passed earlier this year.

And $2 billion would be poured into climate change research, $75 million more than last year.

But the bill cuts nearly $300 million from the $4.4 billion that Obama requested in economic and security aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Democrats also are using this spending bill to change the 1988 Dornan amendment, which prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortions in Washington, D.C. The bill adds the word "federal" to the amendment to allow the D.C. government to use local dollars for funding abortion.

Republican critics say this is an accounting gimmick to find a way to use public dollars to pay for abortions. The House could vote on this bill as early as Thursday.

Food Stamps Go to a Record 37.2 Million, USDA Says

December 10, 2009

Bloomberg - A record 37.2 million people, or about one out of every eight Americans, received food stamps in September, as the recession drove a surging jobless rate, according to a government report.

Recipients of the subsidy for retail-food purchases climbed 18 percent from a year earlier, according to a statement posted today on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Web site. Participation has set records for 10 straight months.

The government boosted food aid as unemployment soared, heading to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October. The jobless rate cooled to 10 percent last month, the Labor Department said on Dec. 4...

Cash for Caulkers Could Seal $12,000 a Home

Under President's proposal, homeowners would be reimbursed for energy-efficient appliances and insulation.

December 9, 2009

CNNMoney.com - President Obama proposed a new program Tuesday that would reimburse homeowners for energy-efficient appliances and insulation, part of a broader plan to stimulate the economy.

The administration didn't provide immediate details, but said it would work with Congress on crafting legislation. Steve Nadel, director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, who's advising on the bill, said a homeowner could receive up to $12,000 in rebates.

The proposal is part of the President's larger spending plan, which also includes money for small businesses, renewable energy manufacturing, and infrastructure.

We know energy efficiency "creates jobs, saves money for families, and reduces the pollution that threatens our environment," Obama said.

"With additional resources, in areas like advanced manufacturing of wind turbines and solar panels, for instance, we can help turn good ideas into good private-sector jobs."

The program contains two parts: money for homeowners for efficiency projects, and money for companies in the renewable energy and efficiency space.

The plan will likely create a new program where private contractors conduct home energy audits, buy the necessary gear and install it, according to a staffer on the Senate Energy Committee and Nadel at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Big-ticket items like air conditioners, heating systems, washing machines, refrigerators, windows and insulation would likely be covered, Nadel said.

Based on earlier bills, consumers might be eligible for a 50% rebate on both the price of the equipment and the installation, up to $12,000, said Nadel. So far, there is no income restriction on who is eligible. That would mean a household could spend as much as $24,000 on upgrades and get half back.

Homes that take full advantage of the program could see their energy bills drop as much as 20%, he said. The program is expected to cost in the $10 billion range.

It's not clear how the home efficiency plan would be administered - the government may issue rebates to consumers directly, homeowners might get a tax credit, or the program could be run via state agencies.

If consumers have to spend a lot of money up front to get the credit, it could throw a wrench in the works, David Kreutzer, an energy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told CNN.

"This will not be something that's attractive to people who are having trouble already making their budget payments month to month or week to week," he said.

To keep consumers from having to spend thousands of dollars before getting reimbursed, Nadel said, one idea is to have contractors or big box retailers pay part of the cost up front...

Obama's new spending plan also calls for renewable energy companies to get additional support. That could come in the form of loan guarantees - basically, money the government uses to secure loans for startups.

In the original stimulus bill passed earlier this year, $6 billion was earmarked for such loan guarantees. But then lawmakers took away $2 billion to fund Cash for Clunkers - the popular program that paid people to turn in their old cars.

The $4 billion from the original bill has funded about $40 billion in loans, said the staffer on the Senate Energy Committee. Meanwhile, firms are hoping for another $4 billion in loan guarantees, since they have another $40 billion worth of projects that need funding.

A bill on energy efficiency reimbursements already has supporters in the Senate.

"Not only will [such legislation] increase our energy security and transform our energy infrastructure to a modern, clean and efficient one," Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., wrote in a recent op-ed column in the Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper. "But it also will position the United States to lead in the development of clean energy technologies."

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