Stimulus Package Pie Chart & Appropriations Com. Summary - One Big Thing Missing - Housing Help!

[1776Forever]

Stimulus Package Pie Chart -

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.

Stimpackage_chart at this link:

http://pndblog.typepad.com/.a/6a00e0099631d08833010536d9c2bb970c-popup

(HT: Tim Kane, Growthology blog)

According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy,

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?

............

Link to the Appropriations Committee site summary here:

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf

The package contains targeted efforts in:

• Clean, Efficient, American Energy
• Transforming our Economy with Science and Technology
• Modernizing Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways
• Education for the 21st Century
• Tax Cuts to Make Work Pay and Create Jobs
• Lowering Healthcare Costs
• Helping Workers Hurt by the Economy
• Saving Public Sector Jobs and Protect Vital Services

.........

I just posted this on DU yesterday - Illinois advocates say successful stimulus package must include affordable housing:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4899079&mesg_id=4899079

I would hope that someone is listening that can tell me why the housing problem for both foreclosures and renters who are becoming homeless isn't being addressed in the package?

Did I miss something? :shrug:

[bobbolink]

1. Surely this is something "progressives" can get behind?

Surely we can "enthuse" progressives to write/call about this lack????

[mntleo2]

2. Newly Homeless AND the Old Homeless ...

...I am speaking here of people who have been waiting for YEARS for their housing to come through that have lived on the street and are sick, jobless, without any help at all. I mean, the reality is that housing is in a crisis and well, it is not just about the ones who have become newly homeless. Now more people are fighting over a tiny piece of that pie. Many of the "old" homeless are older women who experience job discrimination and who are middle aged but too young for Social Security. There is no services for these women who have *no* history of drug abuse, alcoholism, and many have degrees and years of good work experience. You would be stunned how many even have Master's degrees.

I am not saying to ignore the newly homeless, and if there is one good thing about this phenomena it is that FINALLY attention is being given to this travesty. I am just sayin' that the ones who have been around for years exposed to the weather, illnesses (incurable TB and MRSA is raging through the street population), little or no incomes, and are waiting, waiting, waiting ...

it is kind of disgusting to see how little of that pie chart is going to eradicate poverty, a systemized, classist issue that we needed to address yesterday much less NOW.

How tragic!

Cat In Seattle

[Two Americas]

4. it is an emergency

We need to keep generating a sense of urgency in people. We have a humanitarian crisis and it is growing daily.

[Cetacea]

5. Too much in tax cuts.

Why the hell is Obama trying to appease the right-wing? They are going to try to crucify him any way.
Just look at what they did to Bill Clinton.

MRSA is the dirty little epidemic that no one wants to discuss, including some here.

[Connie_Corleone]

3. I thought that was supposed to be part of the second half of the TARP money.

[Waiting For Everyman]

6. What??? Are they nuts?

How obvious does this have to be? It's THE primary cause of the economic crisis!

I heard too, that the 2nd half of TARP was supposed to be devoted to this. Unless there's another program coming, just for that, it makes no sense whatsoever.

[Two Americas]

7. irreverent commentary

"Clean, Efficient, American Energy"

Say what?

"Transforming our Economy with Science and Technology"

Huh?

"Modernizing Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways"

Modernizing? They are falling to shit.

"Education for the 21st Century"

Spare us the sales and marketing slogans.

"Tax Cuts to Make Work Pay and Create Jobs"

Have you lost your minds?

"Lowering Healthcare Costs"

Lowering? WTF does that mean? Lower whose costs? What costs?

"Helping Workers Hurt by the Economy"

That would be just about all of us. Help us how? Tax cuts?

"Saving Public Sector Jobs and Protect Vital Services"

That goes without saying.

[1776Forever]

8. OK - I did miss something - here it is - You have to read deeper into the Appropriation document....

This is good news - Now to make sure our governments get the help they need!

Link here:

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf

* Neighborhood Stabilization: $4.2 billion to help communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant properties in order to create more affordable housing and reduce neighborhood blight.

• Homeless Assistance Grants: $1.5 billion for the Emergency Shelter Grant program to provide short term rental assistance, housing relocation, and stabilization services for families during the economic crisis. Funds are distributed by formula.

• Rural Housing Insurance Fund: $500 million to support $22 billion in direct loans and loan guarantees to help rural families and individuals buy homes during the credit crunch. Last year these programs received $13.4 billion more in applications than they could fund.

• Self-Help and Assisted Homeownership Program: $10 million for rural, high-need areas to undertake projects using sustainable and energy-efficient building and rehabilitation practices. Funds will be awarded by competition to projects that can begin quickly.

* Community Services Block Grant: $1 billion for grants to local communities to support employment, food, housing, and healthcare efforts serving those hardest hit by the recession. Community action agencies have seen dramatic increases in requests for their assistance due to rising unemployment, housing foreclosures, and high food and fuel prices.

* Community Development Block Grants: $1 billion for community and economic development projects including housing and services for those hit hard by tough economic times.

* Emergency Food and Shelter: $200 million to help local community organizations provide food, shelter, and support services to the nation’s hungry, homeless, and people in economic crisis including one-month utility payments to prevent service cut-off and one-month rent or mortgage assistance to prevent evictions or help people leave shelters. Funds are distributed by formula based on unemployment and poverty rates.

* Low-Income Home Energy Assistance: $1 billion to help low-income families pay for home heating and cooling at a time of rising energy costs.

* Centers for Independent Living: $200 million for state formula grants to help individuals with disabilities continue to live in their communities

[Ocracoker16]

14. Thanks for the update- I think we need to go deeper

I would like to have more details about these categories. Affordable housing is really important. I am glad to see funds for it, but I want to know if the amount of money set aside is enough for measurable change.

[1776Forever]

18. Yes, very true. I am going to go back to the Appropriation site often to find out more detail.

I will post it as I find out more. :)

[lonestarnot]

15. Thank you.

[leveymg]

19. Still, nothing there to help people stay in their homes. At least $400 billion needed to

adjust mortgages so people with reduced incomes don't end up on the street.

[mntleo2]

22. Well at least it's sumpin ...

...which is more than the Repugs have allowed for years. I will say that ...but still what the HELL do the rich need any more tax cuts for? I understand they feel they have to cater to these deadbeats, but why is what I do not understand. They do not contribute much to our revenue, they drain it. If anyone should begin to pay taxes, it is the rich and corporations. It is their patriotic duty ~ and they should be ashamed of their freeloading they have done.

It is time for activists to get this point across ~ tho I know it is a dangerous point. This is why it is important for the po' people to stand up as a block across this nation and point the finger. The reason it is on the shoulders of the poor for now is, they can't do much to us except arrest us. We actually have more power by BEING "powerless" financially and with our "reputations," which we do not have to worry about except to remain peaceful and focused. If that is one thing I learned from people who were the direct descendants of slaves, it is that under the radar, where nobody is looking (because they assume nothing can be done by "powerless" people), it is there where often things get done before anyone realizes it is a movement. As a young person I did not understand that, but now I do see it. This also means that we have ideas as to what can be done! It is there that the slow but massive accumulation of power can affect the changes we would like to see.

I am imagining a large crowd standing at the gates of large corporations and gated rich communities around the country, much like Cindy Sheehan did sitting in her patio chair, on the public streets THAT WE PAID FOR and simply doing that ~ silently pointing their fingers with signs that say, "Freeloaders!"

Yes it is true I know what I am saying is radical but I am mad as hell about the burden of taxes on the poor and middle class, and I'm *not* going to take it anymore, I am speaking up!

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle

[mzmolly]

9. It was my understanding that Dems have demanded that some of the initial

bailout $ be appropriated to help homeowners?

:shrug:

[1776Forever]

10. I thought so too. It is not evident how this will go to them though.

Here is the link to the pdf document that spells out most of it and I noted in my comment #8 they have some reference for $$$ going to agencies.

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf

[mzmolly]

11. Heres a recent article on this

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/12/03/20081203biz-Meltdown-Obama1203.html

I have no idea how this $ will be funneled to homeowners either? Seems to me we need to set up a clearing house where people (who are facing foreclosure) can apply for funds to get caught up on payments and to re-fi into a fixed rate loan?

On edit, here's more: http://www.cantonrep.com/world/x743983521/Obama-backing-bailout-to-help-homeowners

It appears that something should be in place by Mid-February?

[1776Forever]

12. Thank you - very good article. I will keep up on this and post if and when I know more.

:fistbump:

[mzmolly]

13. I think it's something we're all (rightfully) curious

about. I thank YOU for raising the question.

:hi:

[Shiver]

16. I'm a little confused

Are you talking about the new stimulus package, or the bailout (TARP)? Some of the comments in the thread seem to indicate the bailout, but the information you're supplying is from the stimulus...

[1776Forever]

17. The report this is referring to is called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009

This is the information given:

Thursday, January 15, 2009

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf

Congress will be considering the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. This package is the first crucial step in a concerted effort to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, jumpstart our economy, and begin the process of transforming it for the 21st century with $275 billion in economic recovery tax cuts and $550 billion in thoughtful and carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in.

.......

And From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Plan

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is the working title of the fiscal stimulus package proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama. The plan comprises tax cuts as well as unemployment and welfare expansion and domestic investments in infrastructure, the energy sector, education and health care. The plan has been translated into a legislative proposal in the US Congress with details of a bill unveiled by House of Representatives Democrats in mid-January. The plan is intended to counteract the economic downturn in the US which started at the end of 2007 and was triggered by the Subprime mortgage crisis and the effects of the follow-on Credit Crunch. It is planned to be much larger than the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 which was enacted in 2008 and has consisted primarily of tax rebate checks.

.........

So it looks like this is the Stimulus Plan document.

Hope that helps.:hi:

[Shiver]

20. Thanks, I thought that was what you were referring to

Some of the comments on the thread mentioned the bailout, though, and I got a little confused. I read the bill (all 647 pages of it - yeah, I'm a geek) and it mentioned several items in regards to housing. I see that you posted the information on that further upthread, though, so there's no real ned for me to mention all of it.

[maryf]

21. Big K&R!

Thanks for this, your posts are really important, keep up the good work!!