Breakdown of Spending for Proposed 2009 Stimulus Bill

Here is a great breakdown from Glenn Beck’s website by sector for some of the spending in the 2009
stimulus bill.

$32 billion: Funding for “smart electricity grid” to reduce waste
$16 billion: Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy-related work, and a multiyear extension of renewable energy production tax credit
$6 billion: Funding to weatherize modest-income homes

Science and Technology
$10 billion: Science facilities
$6 billion: High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas

$30 billion: Transportation projects
$31 billion: Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure
$19 billion: Water projects
$10 billion: Rail and mass transit projects


$41 billion: Grants to local school districts
$79 billion: State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid
$21 billion: School modernization ($15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500; $6 billion for higher education modernization)

Health Care

$39 billion: Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid
$87 billion: Help to states with Medicaid
$20 billion: Modernization of health-information technology systems
$4.1 billion: Preventative care

Jobless Benefits
$43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training.



*$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion.
*Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor.
*Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children
*A $2,500 college tuition tax credit.

*Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment
*Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases.
*Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans

You’ve probably heard some of the wasteful spending hidden in this “economic stimulus bill”, so here is a list of some of the most questionable expenditures in the bill.

  1. $600 million for government fleet vehicles
  2. $650 million for digital TV converter box coupons
  3. $ 21 million to re-sod the Washington monument National Mall
  4. Millions spent for safe sex programs in schools

There are many more small “pork” spending appropriations, and this is how politicians gain support from advocacy groups and corporations. They create massive spending bills and hide small expenses that pay off organizations for their support in past elections. This bill is government
corruption at its finest. Nothing has changed. This bill only has about 40% of American support, and it continues to drop as we find out more about it. Most independent voters are starting to lose support for it, which shows that this isn’t just Republicans or conservatives
opposing this bill. The problem with this bill is that if it fails, we really will enter a depression from the massive debt load our country is taking on.

  • sarasotajoe

    Hmmm. I am quite sure there is much waste in this bill. The re-sodding of the mall though, has been removed from the final version passed by the House, and I’m sure more will be removed when the Senate and house compromise on what will likely be two different versions of the same bill. Money spent on safe sex programs in schools goes a lot farther than money spent on treating AIDS and helping teens raise kids with welfare. You really could have found some porkier pork.

    Also, your statistics are skewed – most polls show significant support for the stimulus, and the outlier at the low end is Rasmussen, which shows 42%, but more significantly it shows only 39% in opposition. most polls show opposition to be in the 30’s and support to be over 50%. Cherry picking polls can be done by anyone and I could point to the Democracy Corps poll showing support at 69% and opposition at only 24%.

    Most of what is listed above is reasonable investment; my only complaints about the Energy spending is that it is too small to permanently rearrange the energy economy. My only complaint with the Education spending is that a $500 increase in Pell grants is not enough – in 8 years Pell has increased by 15% while the costs of running (and thereby attending) school has more than doubled and in some cases tripled. Pell grants should increase by $1,500 and subsidized student loan limits should increase by $2,500 per year. The income limit for receiving full pell should increase by at least 5,000, and the point at which Pell tapers off to zero needs to rise out of the teens, because it is preposterous to think that someone earning$18,000 per year can afford life and school. They can’t and many don’t go anymore.

    There is not enough money in this bill for rail and other projects that will shift us toward a better future – infrastructure spending is all well and good, and will immediately pump money into jobs that will get spent and re-spent, increasing the tax base, increasing GDP and pulling us out of the recession (though more spending will be needed and this is just the first of several stimuli, just watch.) But spending money to fix the roads and bridges will restore a 1950 infrastructure, not create an infrastructure for the future. Keynesian spending will work to end the recession – if it is big enough and not too badly mismanaged, but long term improvement in our economic stability would be better served by more money on major paradigm-shifting innovations, rather than just patching the roads. But make no mistake, if we don’t start spending this money soon we will be in a depression this year, and we may anyway, as this bill is too small. The long term problem of increasing debt is serious, but the short term problem of economic collapse is more serious.

    The “government spending is always bad” rhetoric is becoming more and more silly, as even the most conservative economists all now agree that a stimulus is necessary. You can go on complaining about debt and taxes if you want. I’d rather pay taxes on a healthy income in a growing economy than pay no taxes in the name of some libertarian pipe dream while my income and the larger economy disappear.

  • mike

    I don’t care what’s in the bill. Just give me my welfare check. I deserve my welfare like the rest. I deserve a house, a car, a boat just like all white people have.

    Where is the line to get my check?

    Go Obama!!!

    • billy joel

      way to be unamerican….

    • andrewmwry

      You do not deserve anything if you haven’t done anything. You obviously need to get a job and then get you house and car etc. All that obama is doing is bettering his own position and not giving a darn about the future. Welfare won’t get you anywhere in life you need to start working!! Lazy bum!!

  • Mike

    To say that this bill does not spend enough is one of the most absurd statements that I have ever heard. Some of these ideas are good investment in the future, but does not put people to work. The whole point of a stimulus is to stimulate. Not dig us deeper with ridiculous spending while this country is bankrupt. This bill is a disaster for future generations of Americans! Bailing out states that irresponsibly spent themselves into a hole is not the responsibility of the taxpayers. This bill would be laughable if it was not so serious. The country was rushed into a stimulus bill last year that did nothing for the economy. Then was rushed into 700 Billion dollar so called bailout for the very companies that got us in this mess. Look how well that has worked out! The amount in the bill for infrastructure (which would put people to work right away) is miniscule. That is if the environmentalists’ lawsuits will let a shovel go into the ground. Why should the government spend 600 million to buy new cars when myself and most other Americans cannot afford to buy a used car. Tell me how that is “stimulus”. The solution to this problem is simple and is tried and trued. Cut the payroll tax, cut capital gains tax, cut corporate tax. Put more money in our hands! This bill is a huge gamble that I am not buying! We cannot spend our way out of this. This bill should help the unemployed and create jobs and nothing else. And I don’t mean more government jobs. Wake up America! The anointed one said that if this bill is not passed then we may never recover. And people said that George Bush was a fear monger!

  • mark

    when your done asphalting a road the work leaves .but when you cut taxes on a buisness it puts money back into the buisness and grows

  • Norm

    Why have all this spending that is unrelated to the “urgent” need? Just free up the credit market (with TARP), cut corporate and capital gains taxes, and watch the economy surge.

  • Justin

    So why are we spending a total of over $144 billion on unemployment benefit extensions and health insurance for people who don’t work anyway?

    I’d really like to see some clean up though I do feel this kind of thing is going to help in the near term.

    we should buckle down and weather this out before we try to spend our way out.

    • billy joel

      good for you

  • Chris

    Statistics and data is easily manipulated and skewed to support ones argument. While the majority of Americans support a stimulus bill, it is a clear minority who support the bill currently being debated in the Senate. Republicans and moderate Democrates alike believe there is too much pork and too little investment in job creation in the current bill. What concerns many people is whether this proposed spending is additive to the current budget or a “one-off” expense for 2009. If this spending does not sunset we will have increased the total spending of the government by close to 40% at a time where our deficit is choking our ability to recover. A 40% increase in spending kill any chance of a short term recovery, and like we saw in 1931 and in 1977 we will be in for a long and painful depression

  • z0iid

    A long comment does not mean an educated comment. While i agree with you about updating the infrustructure, power grid, mass transit, etc – you make no mention of the 140 B for individuals. THAT should be the first to go. Anyone who says otherwise is selfish and only looking out for themselves. Also, the jobs that are infrustructure related, are temporary. Those people that get those jobs will know that, and if they are smart – spend less so they have a hope at surviving when the job goes away.

  • Hawk1114

    Obama stated that we may never recover if we don’t pass this bill. If we spend this much money we never will recover. I wouldn’t consider any of this bill stimulus other than the tax cuts.

    Eventually someone is going to have to pay for this poor allocation of resources which consist mainly of all the democrats hopes and dreams. And don’t tell me tax cuts don’t work they worked just fine while Bush was in office. Other than the tech bubble bursting and 9-11 our GDP was growing at a steady pace, its just that Bush could never say no to spending and everyone else in Congress just went right along with him. That’s how our current president “found” the current deficit once he took office. It’s kinda funny that president Obamas democratic buddies were all to eager to go along with all the spending that occured while Bush was president, but now it’s all his fault.

  • Brian Sater

    I could just imagine coming home and telling my wife we are $300,000 in debt and we need to spend $300,000 or more to get out of debt. What has happened to commen sense? I’m sorry, but the government can’t solve all of our problems, but it would certainly help to cut government and taxes and give us back our money.

  • Cynthia Hopp

    The government keeps sending good money after bad.

    Why can’t they cut each of the items in this bill in half and then review the benefits after one year. Also, there are a number of items that should be removed entirely.

    What is the $10 billion for Science facilities?? Until we receive a better delineation of what this is, remove it from the bill.

    Again, until we receive detailed list of what is in the $31 billion for construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure, get rid of it. In our home, we need to do a lot of repair on our personal home, but we don’t have money in our budget to pay for it, so we go without. And we would like to build a new home with all the newest energy efficient things built in, but again, it is not in our budget. And we are not the kind of people to go out a get a new mortgage we can’t afford. The government needs to do the same.

    Cut out the $79 billion for state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid. The states need to look at their tax revenues coming in and only spend what they have, just like the majority of the middle class does.

    Also, I am not in favor of the government taking over providing health insurance for everyone.

    What this bill will create is an entire country looking for handouts. Everyone is expecting the government to provide them a good house that can hold their 50″ screen TV, and a garage to hold their caddy, free healthcare.

    I worked my way through college, along with scholarships and loans. Other people can do that too. But they don’t want to. It is too much work.

    I work hard for my income and now all of it and all of my grandchildren’s income will go to pay for a better lifestyle for people who refuse to work. What is happening to the good morals our country was founded on.

    Pretty soon there won’t be anyone working, because the government handouts are so big. But then, who will be paying the taxes to support the handouts?

    On a final note, how does a regular person like me obtain a detailed list of what is in the bills in congress before they are passed? Who is looking out for the regular people? The last four “pork spending” items listed in the summary below are ridiculous. And it just makes me wonder what else like this is in the bill that we don’t know about.

  • Tim

    I can’t believe that anyone is actually trusting the liberals in Washington to make any decisions that make any sense whatsoever! This whole package is laden with spending for “lefty-feel good” projects that simply won’t help anything! Obama admitted that last night when he mentioned that as long as we are going to spend this money…we might as well include some things we have been wanting to do for decades! DUH…I won!

    We voted for change, I guess we’re getting it! (Change…anyone spare some change???)

  • Joe T.

    Go ahead spend away. I have no stake in future generations. My family will not suffer. I’m so disgusted with so many people unable to admit so much wrong in this bill specifically and this congress generally. Take your sides, ignore the facts and have that sit down with your kids telling them you didn’t have the guts to think independently because you didn’t need your friends thinking negatively of you so little Jimmy and Susie are going to live in a brand new America. They will never have to be sorry for all the injustices of freedom, the America they are buying will look nothing like the old America.


    I agrees with Mike, I wants my check, I lost my business so nows I is in line for my welfare President to gets me my check.

  • scott

    i know about unemployment you people need to shut your mouth im on it and the red tape to get on the programs is bull to be retrained and you can’t go learn something if your in a different county and what i have to pay for my medical ins is hard between than and my car payments etc the wia program is a joke they need to make it state wide not county wide so if you have a program that not offered you can learn that trade in my county they have certain programs that i can get and none are what i want

  • Chris

    To those of you that are, to turn a phrase, “Drinking the Kool-Aid,” about this bill being nothing more but a massive liberal spending bill. I would like to point out the fact that in the last 8 years, the Bush administration has engaged in severe deficit spending. The difference now is that the deficit spending is finally being spent on our own country. Had the Bush administration spent an appropriate amount of money on our nations infrastructure over his term, the size of this bill wouldn’t be nearly as big. This is a bill that is attempting to make up for 8 years of a lack of funding for our nations development, by extension it creates jobs. For the last 8 years our nations funds have been overwhelmingly spent on defense and construction projects in other parts of the world. It’s time we invest money into our own country.
    We all know this bill has pork, but for either the right or left to claim that it is the opposition responsible for the pork, is just propaganda. Both democrats and republicans are equally to blame for the lack of efficiency in our government. To say otherwise is to woefully ignore how our nations government really works.

  • ar257518

    I have a thought.

    Why don’t we have a requirement stating that the ones that vote for this bill, must at least read it first. then like we have to do in school write a darn book report about it. without any assistance. I bet Obama himself has not and likely will not even read it.

    What a joke our goverment has become.

  • Harley

    You people apparently missed the Great Depression.

    This is not your personal financing. This macroeconomics. There is no demand at current in this economy and this bill is an attempt to stimulate demand.

    The money for construction and repair of federal buildings is designed to make these buildings more energy efficient, which eventually save the government significant amounts in energy costs. Even if it does not eventually recoup all its costs, it will wind up costing less than we’re spending and in the short term will create jobs. What’s more, unlike an individual’s home, everyone uses these buildings and they need to be in suitable repair to meet that kind of need.

    As far as the unemployment benefits, preventing productive citizenship from drifting into destitution is a pretty good during a time of major downturn. People who collect unemployment are not some sort of parasites. In order to collect unemployment, you have to been employed for six consecutive months and pay into unemployment. These are people who had jobs and lost them.

    The states, generally, were not irresponsible. They have been hit, particularly in education, with all sorts of federal mandates without federal funding. Some of the states have been irresponsible as Christie Whitman was in New Jersey by cutting taxes and using loans to finance that cut. However, many of the states’ irresponsibility has come largely because of the sheer terror of seeming to be “high tax, big spenders.” These places put off repairs of essential items for years and years because they’re big ticket items. Then when something happens like the bridge collapse in Minnesota you wind up paying so much more. Sometimes you have to spend money. Even within states that have been irresponsible spending this money will help them prevent layoffs which will surely only increase the economic crisis. What’s more something like the $1 billion in here for new police is sheer job creation.

    This bill is far from perfect. There are things in here that could be left until later. There is not enough pure construction spending. The $15 billion that was cut from this bill in school construction was devastating, not only because of the stimulative, but because so many schools are needed. In Newark, New Jersey kids are literally sitting in the closet to fit into the class room. They have to leave the building during the day to go into trailers to attend certain classes. Leaving the building not only exposes them to the elements, it also exposes them to the city’s fierce gang members who have no compunction about harassing a child outside a school.

    It absolutely positively stinks that we have to spend almost $1 trillion to do this. But sometimes you have to give something to get something, there is almost no win-win in real life. This is what’s best for us right now. We obviously can’t continue down this path with deficit spending, the results will be devastating for the US economy down the line. First though we have to deal with preventing collapse right now. There’s no question they blew it with the bank bailout. We just have to do it better now. We’re at a point where only the government has the resources to move us out of this situation. Despite the Right Wing talking points, the government tried to let the market correct itself in 1929-1932 and look what happened.

    Maybe we would have some money to spare were it not for the nearly $2 trillion squandered by Bush on Iraq and tax cuts. And squandered is the right word for it.

    A more detailed break down of the stimulus package can be found on the non-partisan propublica.

  • Janet

    not all white people have a home , car or a boat!!!!!!!! you know not all poor or low income people are black……..poor sees no color!!!!!!!!and some of us are in this shape because of other peoples actions!!!!!!!!!and people who think like you are dumass’s!!!!!!!

  • Charles and Janet

    Work for Welfare is what I say, if I am paying for it and they are collecting it, then public works it is…… like that will ever happen. I have worked up to three jobs to make ends meet, no job too small. I see people waiting to get the same job they had. That train is gone. And re-sodding the National Mall, I say, leave it natural and it will cut back on the expenses. Unreal we are going to put this debt on the backs of our children. They should all be ashamed

  • kyle

    where are all the idiots now? yeah the ones who put this piece of garbage in office.everyone annoyingly bragged about supporting him and now noone talks about their support. i refuse to call him my president. i dont like him but we need him to succed.of course i am a loser because i am a male white with great credit, i own 1 small tiny home which i can barely afford and am slowly slipping into debt. i work,im faithful and committed to my wife of 11 yrs and my daughter. i drive a 2001 daewoo (not funny),and i have to take drug tests to go to work.go to your nearest card store and look at the people spending astronomical amts of money on lotto numbers and scratch offs.these are the very people who are on welfare,unemployed and have no medical coverage.most people in this situation also smoke 1-2 packs a day at 7.00 a pack.nice.this country is really going down the tubes faster than fast.its a good day for the poor and the ashamed of the american people for electing this fool.thanks morons.

  • Larry E. Brown

    I’m getting real tired of the ‘gimme’ attitude this country has developed. Someone in government should read the constitution and discover what governments role is. NONE of what this bill covers is their responcibility. As a matter of fact their responcibilty of providing for the common defence is NOT INCLUDED AT ALL.
    Come on people, grow up and accept responcibility for yourselves and your families. If our forefathers were like you we would still be English not American and living on their dole.

  • George

    Here is a little something for you Mike and you Glenn. go get f**** jobs!!!!!! those who rely on others to get where we have gotten by hard work and honest day pay, then you all you are a leach and do not desereve what we got! We work hard for what we got, not by simple requesting a paycheck from our SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT!!!!!!

  • Mike

    Well, I echo the sentiment of the folks here who claim that government cannot solve every single issue. There is a ton of pork in this bill. The whole purpose was to generate jobs…ergo to stimulate the economy. If it isn’t DIRECTLY related to that…it’s pork. If you want to resod the lawn, fine, introduce a different bill.

    Anyone who determines they are OWED a welfare check is a sad statement on the attitude that prevails in my country. It saddens me to see lazy, shiftless people who are zero liability taxpayers who think the government OWES them something. I work, I pay taxes and I refuse to subsidize laziness. I have been unemployed…twice…it was strictly business. Was I happy? No. But I got off my lazy butt and found work.

    So to all of you who just “wants your check” you don’t deserve nothing unless you work for it. I don’t give a damn what color you are, or what your background is…this country owes you NOTHING! Read the words of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King! None of these great men preached that anyone owes YOU anything!

    Welcome to Socialism!

  • Scott

    I don’t see how morgaging off my generations future will benifit our country. The truth is resessions will happen and the more we panic about it the worse it will be. If we are experiencing the worst economy since the great depression then why are we trying the same techniques that were employed then. That depression lasted from 1929 to 1946. If that doesn’t strike a cord I don’t know what will. Now, I am working my way through school working 20 to 30 hours while attending school full time. I am definately worried about my job but I am tighting my belt like everyone sould and I will be damned if I am scared into anouther stupid bill presented through fear mongering. Didn’t anyone learn something after the Patiot act? This will pass just like all other ressesions but, I don’t think this bill or any other like it will do anything but extend it’s length. I feel tax cuts and optimism wil get us out.

  • Ben

    I feel we the american people should stand and take what is ours. We have stood around allowing our “leaders” to rap the working middle class. As we hope for the best time is running out and the middle class is going with it. They are useing the same tactics used in the 1930’s and as history has shown they will fail and we will be left to the streets with our hands held out or a riffle in hand. where will we draw the line. what will it take to stop the the tyranny of fear? I ask all Americans to unite, to stand, and to speak there minds in any public place we have been left out for too long and I have had enough. Let this be the turning point for truth to be heard and for justice to be ours. WE were once the nation of law and not of man but now the fait of many is left to the hands of the few who are making up the rules and this out come, we can not wait for.

  • Kaily

    Why was it acceptable to pass bills to bail out the auto companies, or the mortgage companies and banks, or to borrow money from other countries to fund a war that is bankrupting our country… but spending money on renewable energy? THAT’S HOGWASH Damn liberals! How DARE they?!?! And for those of you who seem to think that a $500 check amounts to a government hand-out paycheck… you obviously have no idea what $500 is worth right now… virtually nothing. I could understand if the government was handing out 50 thousand dollar checks, but $500 might be the difference between someone’s children eating, and not eating because their father’s factory was shut down and now he’s out of work. Most “working poor” families aren’t going to go spend their $500 on a new TV… they will buy groceries, pay their health insurance, get their kid’s tooth fixed that’s been hurting him for months that they don’t have the money to get looked at… No one is looking for a hand-out, just some help. Government got us into this disaster with their lack of oversight and transparency in spending and the Bush Administration was allowed to run wild with defense and war spending and now Americans have to suffer the backlash. People aren’t refusing to work, they are finding it difficult to work. Government got us into this mess, why shouldn’t they have a stake in getting us OUT?

  • Frugal Living

    I am from the UK originally and things are pretty bad there too. After spending some time in the USA it’s evident that we are in a similar situation with people wanting work but not having it…. However unlike the Great Depression most out of workers still have their flatscreen, their big gas gussler and all the Western amenities that we have become accustomed too. One of the things that people may have to learn to do (including myself) is shedding their life of such things and going back to the simple way. Growing your own food, entertainment through having friends and family present….

    …. I have just moved to Cairo in fact and here you see people who really are poor. Poor to the point that they have NO cash, No life to speak of and No one to listen to their voice…. America and the UK will be ok in the long run, it may just be uncomfortable for a while… One sad thing about the USA is the lack of health opportunities available to the poor and I thank that I am British everyday for having access to the wonderful NHS.

  • Paige

    I agree with Ben but not as drastically… The people who are making up these laws are beyond middle class and they have money so what do they have to worry if this stimulus bill makes the recession last years longer than if we just waited it out…. The politicians arent able to see things from our point of view because of the fact that they arent experiencing what we normal average class americans are… I believe we should do something and not just wait it out but there are to many things in this bill that just dont have to be dealt with right now and wouldnt help with the economy at this point… $10 billion: Science facilities
    $6 billion: High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas .. ok well we dont have to build that much money’s worth of science buildings.. plus the plan needs to specify more about it. and ok yes we love our computers and internet… but does it really have to cost us 6 billion at the moment….. why dont we work on that later when we start pulling out of this.. 21 million to re sod….. no… just let it go people….. why should the how pretty the grass looks be on our top priority list ?
    I also believe that welfare is a necessary evil…. there are times in peoples lives were the extra help is desparately needed.. But i also believe that these people should be actively searching for a job.. Even the smallest job would help… I dont mind the government helping people out and sometimes its the only thing that keeps them and their children fed clothed and protected by a roof…. but I also think that people who recieve these checks should be trying as hard as they can to get a job. I know some people do but its the ones who just wait going eventually ill get one, the whole time they’ve got their hand stuck out receiving other peoples hard earned money… Everyone else has to work for their money so they should too… And if they show no interest in getting a job or act like theyre trying to help themselves then they shouldnt recieve anything free…

  • DG

    this depresses me greatly. stimulus plan? I scoff at it. It’s going to put more people in debt but I do support the education and energy plans