Senators Keep ‘Buy American’ in the Stimulus

This will give PBO a chance to veto his own stimulation.

This is a very complex issue… I do find myself supporting the Buy-American issue with the deal being that there be no sales tax on American produced goods to help stimulate the economy ;>)

We will all be forced to Buy American products at American prices. (Aka Union Markups with Democratic campaign donations built in). good luck with that.

I thought Europeans were supposed to love Barack Obama and the Democratic party, and they “all” wanted him to be our president. Looks like he is getting ready to pay them back for their support.

Buy American?? America sure didn’t hesitate to move their jobs to Mexico when Clinton signed NAFTA. Why don’t they concentrate on getting the jobs home? Why doesn’t that ever come up?

Well, heres the gist of it. American’s don’t buy our finished goods or products….we don’t sell you our oil. Canada is the number one supplier of oil and natural gas to the United States but there are plenty of other markets in the world willing to take up the slack. The

Ahhhh. The Keynesian morons and their premature swan song.

While I am a supporter of keeping jobs in America… I don’t believe that we need to stipulate that as part of legislation.
Sending jobs overseas so that companies turn higher profits and then the compensation of the Executives and CEO’s gets bigger and bigger while the pay for workers gets smaller and smaller is an economic form of rape.
The answer is to make the compensation of all parties in a company based on the profitability of the company AND to give those (beloved by the Republicans) tax incentives to companies that grow the earning power of American workers.
We should not restrict trade, we should make “setting up shop” in America more engaging.
Of course, the bullet that kills my idea… is pretty easy to find.
Did you see it?

Is this also going to manage only HIRING AMERICAN CITIZENS??? Buy American, build with Americans.

buy amercan?buy what? ever try to find a tv,dvd player washer or dryer made here its almost impossile.all computers are made somewhere else.the manufating base in this country is almost gone.what we need is a real free trade .china needs to imprt as much from us as we do from them

In May 1930, Canada preemptively imposed new tariffs on 16 products that altogether accounted for around 30% of U.S. exports to Canada.[8] Canada later also forged closer economic links with the British Commonwealth. France and Britain protested and developed new trade avenues. Germany developed a system of autarky. Imports plunged 66% from US$4.4 billion (1929) to US$1.5 billion (1933), and exports fell 61% from US$5.4 billion to US$2.1 billion, both drops far more than the 50% fall in the GDP.

Although the tariff act was passed after the stock-market crash of 1929, some economic historians consider the political discussion leading up to the passing of the act a factor in causing the crash, the recession that began in late 1929, or both, and its eventual passage a factor in deepening the Great Depression.[11] Unemployment was at 7.8% in 1930 when the Smoot-Hawley tariff was passed, but it jumped to 16.3% in 1931, 24.9% in 1932, and 25.1% in 1933.[12]

ajax: “Have our Congress and President gone frakking crazy???”
Seriously – did you even read the entry? Obama is on McCain’s side on this one.

Protectionism has always failed in the past. Basically we will alienate countries that we export to. Which is very important to jobs. When you say buy made in the USA sounds good. But at this time in a world economy this would cause foreign countries not to import from the USA which will cause even more massive layoffs.

We know this is very drastic…considering the colossal collapse republicans left behind! If we can enough helicopters to fly around the country everywhere drop down bundles of cash it would be even better! I saw John McCain mouthing the same nonsense that George Bush did, for eight years. Tax cuts and more tax cuts for the rich! That how we got into this humongous collapse in the first place! Believe me Republicans are up to the same ignorant, partisan and dogmatic nonsense that turn America into a socialist country. But under the circumstances that Republicans left behind, we have no other choice. What we need right now is just like President Obama has proposed more spending! The more we can spend is better and we should as fast as we can and as vast quantities as possible! And only US Government is able to do that, because that Republicans have caused so much damage to our financial system by their poor, incompetent management. And that’s the only way possible to revitalize America. Pork or no pork, focused or unfocused, what we urgently need is more and huge amounts of government spending. All of that is needed to save our America from collapse after all the years of poor judgment and damage done to our country by the Republicans. Republicans are mouthing the same dogmatic stuff and trying to sound like fiscal conservatives, safeguarding interests of the people! Oh, my Lord, look who’s talking? All the damage done to our country over the past years, the same people are asking for same old stuff like tax cuts? I don’t understand what Republicans are all about. They are stuck in the same old worn out rut! All I know is their policies and ideas have ruined our country. After all the devastation done to America by the Republicans by their policies and their actions they are still mouthing the same spectacularly failed ideas! Boehner is saying the same stupid stuff like a trained Myna bird. We have tried all those Republican stuff and our country is not a Socialist state for all practical purposes. We know Republicans have ruined America. But Republican leaders like Kantor, Boehner, McCain, Kyle can’t help but to try selling the same snake oil to us Americans! We need government spending pork or no pork in huge amounts, to save our country from collapse!
America is now a socialist Republic thanks to our good old Republicans like John McCain. Remember those big investment banks, hedge funds? Where are they right now? Don’t you realize that America’s banking and financial system has completely collapsed? America is in dire straits─ don’t you still get it? I saw John McCain on TV toady and he was just like he was 20 years ago. He had the same failed ideas. He sounded like an old broken record, with same old failed Republican solutions, which got us to this tragic situation in the first place! I am shocked by our media talking heads and theior ignorance about America’s economic situation. Most sounds as ignorant as John McCain! You have to learn more about America’s great depression and how we overcame it. President Obama is proposing to do is what FDR did to save America…We all should support President Obama.

I like the idea of Buy america but the backlassh we would get from Europe and Asia would cause us to lose more jobs then not.
WE need to redue the trade agreement.

According to the Keynesians, he needed to spend much more money; they were unable to say how much more. With fiscal policy, however, government could provide the needed Keynesian spending by decreasing taxes, increasing government spending, and increasing individuals’ incomes. As incomes increased, they would spend more. As they spent more, the multiplier effect would take over and expand the effect on the initial spending. The Keynesians did not estimate what the size of the multiplier was. Keynesian economists assumed poor people would spend new incomes; however, they saved much of the new money; that is, they paid back debts owed to landlords, grocers and family. Keynesian ideas of the consumption function were upset in the 1950s by Milton Friedman and Franco Modigliani.[48]
In the United States, the massive war spending doubled the GNP, either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression. Businessmen ignored the mounting national debt and heavy new taxes, redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts. Productivity soared: most people worked overtime and gave up leisure activities to make money after so many hard years. People accepted rationing and price controls for the first time as a way of expressing their support for the war effort. Cost-plus pricing in munitions contracts guaranteed businesses a profit no matter how many mediocre workers

personally, i try to buy american whenever possible. however, it’s a foolish federally-mandated policy. a better idea would be to give tax breaks only to companies who produce goods here in the us, paying living (if not union) wages.

The free traders do have a good point, except that EVERY OTHER country other than us has tariffs against us! But, we are supposed to import everything from them free of charge? Japan and China have tariffs on our cars… The EU has tariffs on our steel… and even France has tariffs on our beef… Why can’t we have our TAX DOLLARS actually support American jobs… It’s not a tariff, not even close… it’s a preference and is consistent with our trade laws.

in the 30′s we actually exported more than we imported

Goodness, all this talk of protectionism with regard to imports and not a word about the jobs shipped overseas, jobs held by foreign nationals with Green Cards, and jobs held illegally by illegal immigrants. There are more than 5,000,000 American jobs being held by people who shouldn’t be working for American companies. But the politicians aren’t courageous enough to tackle this elephant because it means votes. Shame, shame on you Congress for shooting the fish in the barrel and not getting down to the problems that really ail our country.

Yep Obama once again thanx dude for your buy American yeah good going. Why not do that and all Americam workers are happy how bout guys like me and millions of others that work for Toyota,Mazda,Huyndai,Sony,Sharp,Ikea,Makida,Samsung, well I can sit here and fill out this entire post. Make it short go around your house and pick up 90% of the products and you can determine how many people will be laid off if this “buy American” deal pass. By the way I did not vote for Obama.

vegas…you are 50% correct, how about this…everytime you go to your bank,write a check or use your cedit card…anyone of them, you are destroying America. The problem started here and it can finish here, but it takes “US” to finish it, not blaming others. STOP USING YOUR BANKS & CREDIT CARDS!!!

Phoenix Lady;
We have been in Afghanistan, with America since 2000. We have lost 108 soldiers. We have the highest soldier mortality rate per country capita serving in Afghanistan because we took on the toughest area of Afghanistan to patrol. But we are still there.
We have sunk billions of dollars to help your fed prop up your banks.
We helped land and house thousands travelers on 9/11.
Then you threaten us with trade protectionism, and you dare say I threaten you. How neighborly are you? Yes you are economically hurting, but it was self-induced.

Concerned Canadian,
Thanks so much for all that Canada has done to support us, and I mean that sincerely. As you glibly point out, perhaps a lot of our financial troubles are self induced. we have bought the line for too long that we could live the good life and not look after our own store.
What do you think we should do? Just meekly fork over our scarce dollars to support other economies, while ours becomes more and more bankrupt? We need to fix our own problems before we can spend a lot of money abroad.

I think the buy American idea is a good one. Please remember Obama campaigned with a promise of giving tax credits to companies who hired American workers and taking tax credits away from companies that moved jobs overseas. If he wants the buy American clause out, then he is already reneging on his promise.

I’m a first time homebuyer. i purchased in January. How exactly does this 10% up to $15,000 tax credit affect me?

Phoenix lady: I don’t think Free Trade is behind outsourcing of US jobs. I think that is the result of corporate decision makers. Canada is the largest of the US trading partners. The Buy American clause hurts Canada the most. No sweat shops up here. You’re problem is Asia and Mexico. That’s why your corporations ship the jobs there. As Concerned Canadian pointed out, there are billions of dollars worth of bitumen upgrading jobs slated for Chicago and one other US city that I can’t recall. So Canada would be outsourcing to the US. And, again as Concerned Canadian pointed out, the Buy American clause would basically give those who have been pushing to keep those jobs in Alberta all the leverage they need. As far as being neighbourly, well, Canada isn’t the one firing the first shot to start a trade war.

alberta can keep 35000 jobs, we lost 187000 jobs 2 mondays ago

Thanks Barb for the info. I don’t really think Americans would be at all interested in a trade war if we were weren’t getting royally dumped on by a host of other countries, not to mention our own government, which is mostly controlled by big business interests. The rank and file American mostly gets hung out to dry in the name of somebody elses profit.
Generally, Americans are a pretty generous people. We like to provide security to our families, but we want that for others too. In the last two decades that has become harder and harder and it seems more and more is slipping away from us. Businesses that were the cornerstone of our economy are gone.
As far as I am concerned, we could merge with Canada and it would be fine with me. After all, there is strength in numbers.

“buy american” creates an artifical economy that will explode in our face.
those who are either ignorant of, or refuse to accept – human behavior and macroeconomics are insulting themselves.
getting elected obviously has zero connection to understanding how money works.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! These narcissistic bullies on The Hill can’t see the big picture for the flags they have wrapped around their heads.
The United States is no longer an isolated entity. The world economy has evolved into one integrated (nearly organic) system.
The United States is still the central economy, however. All the other economies have gone into recession because we have, but that’s apparently not part of the Senate debate.
Barring foreign goods and services from our national economy at this point would be like a man trying to live without and endocrine system. You don’t think about your glands until until they go wrong and make trouble for you.
I guarantee you that if we don’t feed the glands that have been servicing us and are now dependent on us(isolate ourselves economically), they’re going to swell up and secrete some anti-growth hormones (retaliate economically) that will give us a bigger and more persistent headache than we’ve already got!
I can’t believe that some of those Rhodes Scholars on The Hill would be this narrow minded if left to their better judgment. Consequently, some of those contemporary conspiracy theories (New World Order, The Bilderberg Group, The Illuminati, etc.) are seeming more and more plausible each day the debate on this issue drags on.

come on people that have no clues!!!Please stop the “our economy now is cause by free trade”. No it doesn’t but I can assure you 1 thing the life style that you demand to have is cause by free trade.

i really feel bad. i voted for obama, but i REALLY am starting to see that mccain is a good man.
God bless us now… smh

blogofacowboy… no coffee would be a bummer… thank goodness for Kona, Hawaii.
ed… look up xenophobia ( or in your case, “xenophobia-lite”)
vegas… uh……..what?

Protectionist policies are guaranteed to make things worse and start a trade war with the rest of the world. How can that possibly help us? It’s like passing a surtax on foreign car brands. You can’t tell which are made here and which overseas. We’d see surcharges on chevys and a discount for toyotas and MBs. Stupid stupid move.

mcain is still a corperate stooge.
and he wasent a “war hero”, just a bad pilot.
america should buy american, just like canada should buy canadian, and so on.

“i really feel bad. i voted for obama, but i REALLY am starting to see that mccain is a good man.
God bless us now… smh”
Obama has nothing to do with this. It’s people in the Senate who put that language into the Bill. Obama is siding with McCain on this issue.

dassis…
i hear ya, but with an mba i know where he is coming from. the world told obama this morning that if they are shut out, its gonna be a wrap.
we can’t just use the rest of the world when its convenient for us, and then shut off the pipes in order to score political points.
this is why the u.s. is hated worldwide. vultures, i tell ya… smh

This is a very complex issue and McCain may very well be correct. However, my gut reaction is that since this bill represents massive U.S. taxpayer dollars, I’d rather those dollars support American jobs. Those American workers will then trot off to the big chain stores and support foreign workers by purchasing foreign-made products.

Man people are short-sighted.. First of all Smoot-Hawley was put in place by –> REPUBLICANS <–. You know, that guy Herbert Hoover that to this day Neo-Cons try to absolve for his key role in the Great Depression. Secondly the buy American provisions are only for the stimulus funds. It's not a Tariff that covers all foreign imports. The last 8 years of declining wages and rising unemployment is proof positive that shipping jobs and U.S. tax dollars to Communist, and Arabs DOES NOT increase the standard of living in the United States.

Oh geez let’s consider this. You get your paycheck in America, you buy something from a foreign country, now the American money is gone poof to the foreign country. The same is happening with jobs – consider for example medical records, or even credit card processing (both have privacy laws in the US that are not enforceable once this information leaves the US). So now your medical record is typed in – Pakistan, India or someother overseas country. But didn’t your or your insurance company pay American money for your medical care? So the hospital/doctor/clinic hires an overseas typist to type your medical record and pays them with American money. How is that money going to come back into our economy? Further search for “medical identity theft” is is an ongoing and increasing problem. Keep it ALL in America our money and our jobs!

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the chief “Buy American” cheerleader said, “Both Mr. Smoot and Mr. Hawley are dead. … But this amendment is part of a debate that is alive on the floor of the Senate and across the country. Twenty thousand people a day are losing their jobs. Twenty thousand people a day.
And Dorgon would like to double that,

rabbit: I agree with you. I was just trying to be facetious.

yea, i agree, it blows my mind that these christian fundies are still more worried about “moral issues” when people are being put out on the street because they cant keep up with their bills…..try taking care of the people who are suffering right now rather than a mass of cells in someone you dont know’s uterus.

We have done enough for China already, as well as all oil exporting countries (Russia, the Arab states, Opec) by BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS for years and years. We have been subsidizing these countries for years. Enough! It’s not protectionism, it’s SAVING OUR OWN JOBS. Let China throw up trade barriers- so what? Are they going to threaten to not sell us their products? That’s laughable, their economy would tank.
McCain is a fool.

McCain’s self description of being a “fierce free trader” is one reason he lost, by a landslide. While McCain was cheering on free trade, Obama campaigned on how he would keep jobs here in this country.
We have an $800 billion a year trade deficit. I repeat, we have an $800 billion a year trade deficit (that’s more than the $700 billion bailout package, and almost as much as the $900 billion stimulous package), so consider where our economy would be if we did not have a trade deficit. We lost over 1 million jobs over the last 2 months. We cannot afford to add to this trade deficit nor can we afford to continue sending jobs to other countries.
Our trade policies have drained our economy. While we have been generous in our trade policies with other countries, other countries have NO RIGHT whatsoever to scream protectionism and try to dictate how this country formulates economic policy over something as simple as the Buy American provision to build THIS government’s infrastructure and stimulate THIS economy!
My representatives represent me, my fellow American citizens, and my country, and I expect them to act like it. If our politicians (like McCain) decide that off-shoring jobs is so great, then perhaps we should off-shore our politicians. I’ll take Japan’s politicians… more-efficient and better-made, right?

I think we have to ask ourselves… as the world is drowning in the recession, should countries hold tight and help lift each other up or cross our arms and hope to get washed ashore?
Apparently, other countries are finding their own way to survive, too.

Set aside the global trade war that the ‘buy American’ legislation is likely to start …
Not sure it is physically possible to comply with the ‘buy American’ given our atrophied industrial infrastructure … even most ‘American’ brand products have significant foreign content … if we are looking for ‘shovel ready’ but have to wait for enough US content to start, not sure we can get much underway this year
another legislative connundrum
thanks Pelo, Bohner, and associates

The US citizens are being asked to foot this spending bill based on the supposed need of the US economy. The spending should go to the US.
If the spending cannot go to the US because of trade agreements, then that portion of the spending should be removed from the bill and handled under an alternative spending bill rather then calling it a stimulus. Now, I will add that trade agreements should not require any nation to do something that is not in their best interests. It does not make for good relations.
So yes, if it is not in Canada’s best interest to export oil to the US in the amount stated in NAFTA, then it should be removed, similar provisions that require the US to act against its best interst should be removed, and so on with Mexico too.
Nations should be able to do what is best for their country and their people, trade agreements should be helpful and promote good relations, not harm people and relations.
Obama’s campaign promise:
End Tax Breaks for Companies that Send Jobs Overseas: Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that companies should not get billions of dollars in tax deductions for moving their operations overseas. Obama and Biden will also fight to ensure that public contracts are awarded to companies that are committed to American workers.

Bush should hang his head between his legs. This is what happens when one man is so focused on another country instead of his own. A Lot of people warned him what was going on he just didn’t want to hear it all he said was nothing wrong with outsourcing jobs maybe his should have been outsourced. Free trade seems to be going one way we buy from the world but then there is nothing made here to sell to the world. Manufacturing must must come back.

“buy american” is smoke and mirrors. and if it is serious free-trade will be in next year’s bill.

How is this TRILLION dollar pay-off to Liberal special interstes supposed to “stimulate job growth?”
$300 million for replacement, modernization, upgrades of agriculture labs and other facilities
$100 million in competitive grants for USDA research and education activities
$171 million in “Salaries and Expenses” for the Farm Service Agency
$400 million in farm ownership loans
$275 million for “Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations”
$120 million for “Watershed Rehabilitation Program”
$110 million for “Rural Development, Salaries and Expenses”
$11.4 billion for rural housing loans
$127 million for Rural Community Facilities Programs
$150 million for Rural Business loans and grants
$200 million in “Biorefinery Assistance”
$50 million in rural energy assistance
$1.375 billion for “Rural Water and Waste Disposal”
$200 million in “Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband”
$198 million in school lunch funding
$500 million for special WIC supplemental nutrition program
$150 million for “Commodity Assistance Program”
$200 million in farm disaster assistance funds
$28 million for emergency farm loans
$100 million in grants for “aquaculture producers” hit by high feed costs in 2008
Title II
$20 million for “Operations and Administration” of Bureau of Industry and Security
$150 million in “Economic Development Assistance Programs”
$1 billion for the 2010 Census
$9 billion for “Broadband Technology Opportunities Program” at NTIA of that, $350 million to develop and maintain a “broadband inventory map”
$650 million for addition Digital-to-Analog Converter Box coupons
$218 million for Scientific and Technical Research and Services at NIST
$357 million for NIST “Construction of Research Facilities”
(From the Advancing Science, Serving Society” – The proposed stimulus appropriations combined with a regular ppropriation could leave NIST with a FY 2009 budget of $1.3 billion or higher, well above the $882 million authorized for FY 2009 in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and thus on a track to double over a decade.)
$427 million for “Operations, Research, and Facilities” at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
$795 million in NOAA “Procurement, Acquisition and Construction”
$34 million for NOAA “Departmental Management”
$200 million to develop a nationwide wireless network for federal law enforcement
$150 million for the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee – (OFDT) is an organization that achieves efficiencies, effectiveness and operational synergies within the detention and incarceration community by fostering interagency cooperation, mutual understanding, accountability and teamwork.
$50 million for Salaries and Expenses at the U.S. Marshal’s Service
$125 million for Department of Justice “Construction”
$75 million for Salaries and Expenses at the FBI
$400 million for FBI “Construction”
$1 billion for buildings and facilities in the Federal Prison System
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$1.5 billion for Byrne grants
$440 million in State and Local law enforcement grants
$100 million in State and Local grants for anti-narcotics work
$300 million in law enforcement assistance to Indian tribes
$100 million in grants for the Office for Victims of Crime
$150 million for rural law enforcement
$50 million in aid to combat Internet Crimes Against Children
$1 billion for the COPS program (hiring new police officers)
$500 million for NASA “Science”
$250 million for NASA “Aeronautics”
$500 million for NASA “Exploration”
$250 million for NASA HQ and NASA’s nine field centers
$1.2 billion for National Science Foundation “Research and Related Activities”
$150 million for NSF “Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction”
$50 million in NSF “Education and Human Resources”
$1.16 billion for Army Operation and Maintenance
$571 million for Navy Operation and Maintenance
$112 million for Marine Corps Operation and Maintenance
$927 million for Air Force Operation and Maintenance
$79.5 million for Army Reserve Operation and Maintenance
$44.5 million for Navy Reserve Operation and Maintenance
$32.3 million for Marine Corps Reserve Operation and Maintenance
$10.6 million for Air Force Reserve Operation and Maintenance
$215 million for Army National Guard Operation and Maintenance
$20.9 million for Air National Guard Operation and Maintenance
$100 million for “Defense Production Act Purchases”
$200 million for “Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide”
$250 million for “Defense Health Program” for Operation and Maintenance
$2 billion for Army Corps of Engineers water projects
$500 million for Mississippi River and Tributaries projects
$1.9 billion for Army Corps operations and maintenance
$100 million for cleanup at early atomic energy sites
$50 million for Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies
$1.4 billion for water projects for Indian tribes
$50 million for the Central Utah Project Completion Act (102-575)
$50 million for the California Bay-Delta Restoration Act (108-361)
$60 million for rural water projects
$10 million to inspect canals in urban areas
$110 million for water reclamation and re-use projects
$2.1 billion for “Energy Efficiency and Conservation” grants to states
$2.1 billion on energy efficiency in government buildings
$2 billion for grants to advanced battery manufacturers
$4.5 billion for “Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability”
$4.6 billion for “Fossil Energy Research and Development”
$483 million for “Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup”
$390 million for “Uranium Enrichment and Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund”
$430 million for “Science” within the Energy Department
$1 billion for Atomic Energy Defense Activities
$5.5 billion for “Defense Environmental Cleanup”
$250 million for Community Development Financial Institutions in the Treasury Dept
$125 million for a federal payment to the Washington, D.C. Water and Sewer Authority
$9 billion for the “Federal Buildings Fund”
$6 billion of that money is for “High Performance Green Buildings”
$600 million to buy high fuel economy vehicles for the federal government
$84 million for salaries and expenses at the Small Business Administration
$248 million for security in the new headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security
$100 million for new port security inspection systems
$97 million to buy new tactical communications equipment
$200 million for security technology on the Mexican border
$800 million for construction of land border posts
$27.8 million for new radio eqiupment for US Immigration agents
$1.2 billion for Aviation Security
$572 million for Coast Guard construction and navigation facilities
$240 million for “Alteration of Bridges”
$100 million in Transportation security grants
$100 million for port security grants
$250 million for emergency operations centers
$500 million to upgrade critical infrastructure
$500 million for upgrades or new fire stations ($15 mill max)
$100 million for emergency food and shelter programs
$15 million for upgrades to FLETC facilities
$14 million for cyber security research
$135 million for Bureau of Land Management
$180 million for BLM Construction
$15 million for Wildland Fire Management
$190 million for Resource Management at Fish and Wildlife Service
$110 million for FWS Construction
$158 million for operations of the National Park System
$55 million for Historic Preservation in Park System
$589 million for NPS Construction
$135 million for US Geological Survey work
$40 million for Bureau of Indian Affairs programs
$522 million for BIA Construction
$800 million for EPA Superfund
$200 million for Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund
$6.4 billion in Clean Water grants
$650 million for Capital improvements at the Forest Service
$650 million for Wildland Fire Management
$50 million for Indian health services
$85 milion for health information technology in Indian health
$410 million for Indian health facilities
$150 million for facilities at the Smithsonian
$3.25 billion for training and employment services, Dept of Labor
$400 million for state unemployment insurance operations
$160 million for building work, Office of Job Corps
$1 billion for construction, renovation of health centers
$412 million for Centers for Disease Control facilities work
$300 million for “National Center for Research Resources” – FY 2009 budget was 1.16 billion
$2.7 billion to Office of the Director of National Institutes for Health
$500 million for buildings and facilities at NIH, Bethesda, Md.
$700 million for health care research and quality
$2 billion for child care grants to states
$400 million in social services block grants
$1 billion for Children and Families Services Programs
$1.1 billion to expand Early Head Start programs
$100 million in Aging nutrition services
$5 billion for Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology – in 2007, this office received 42 million dollars
$5.8 billion in Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund
of that – $400 million for screening and prevention of STD’s, including HIV
$870 million for flu vaccine development and purchase
$13 billion for education grants
$17 billion in “School Improvement Programs”
$13.5 billion for “Special Education”
$13.8 billion for Pell Grants and other student financial assistance
$3.5 billion for Higher Education Facilities
$750 million for replacing the National Computer Center for Social Security
$140 million for Social Security IT to facilitate electronic medical records
$200 million for GAO Salaries and Expenses
$637 million for Army Military Construction
$990 million for Navy and Marine Corps construction – half of that money goes to energy conservation and alternative energy projects
$87 million for Air Force construction projects
$118 million for military energy conservation projects
$150 million for Army NationalGuard readiness centers
$110 million for Air National Guard construction projects
$34 million for construction of Army family housing
$80 million for construction of Air Force family housing
$1.04 billion for VA Medical facilities
$323 million for VA energy efficiency initiatives
$64 million for National Cemetery Administration
$195 million for VA information technology systems
$1.1 billion for VA hospital and national cemetery construction
$860 million for VA health care “minor construction”
$257 million for VA nursing home grants to states
$60 million for Cemeterial Expenses – Army
$75 million for a consolidated diplomatic security training facility
$120 million for a State Department backup information management facility
$5.5 billion in grants for surface transportation infrastructure
$200 million for FAA air traffic infrastructure
$1.1 billion in supplementary airport grants
$27 billion in “Supplemental Grants for Highway Investment”
$250 million in grants for intercity passenger rail service
$850 million in capital projects for passenger rail service
$2 billion for high speed rail corridor program
$8.4 billion in grants for public transit investment
$100 million in grants to “small shipyards”
$510 million in Native American Housing Block Grants
$5 billion in “Public Housing Capital Fund”
$2.25 billion for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes
$2.25 billion in “Home Investment Partnership Program”
$1.5 billion for “Homelessness Prevention Fund”
$3.5 billion in Green retrofit efforts in federally assisted housing
$79 billion in stabilization funds to states for education

South Carolina Commerce Secretary Joe Taylor, who was appointed by Gov. Mark Sanford mentioned in the previous post, explained today that the reason for high unemployment in the state was due to people failing drug tests.
“On Monday, Taylor briefed fellow members of Gov. Mark Sanford’s Cabinet on efforts to force the commission to give him details about the state’s unemployed, including age, education, how frequently they’ve been jobless and why they lost jobs.”
Taylor explains, “You know, we need to go in and teach people what a negative impact a failed drug test will have on their life: not just the job they lost but their ability to be rehired over the next 90 days to six months.”
When asked about Taylor’s comments, Sanford stated, “It was an interesting point.”
“Sanford said his staff will review the information and decide the fate of the commissioners later.”
Those South Carolina Republicans really know their stuff, huh? What would Sanford do to help the economy? Make sure people aren’t failing drug tests?
Why don’t many Republicans scream and shout about excessive military spending on unnescessary illegal wars and call that socialism? What is the Republican Party’s plan (we know tax cuts for the wealthy haven’t worked) to get a handle on our trade deficit and our economy? Crickets chirping…
Of course the stimulus package is a spending bill that contains a budget list of spending. Duh! What do you think is meant by stimulus and how do you think that the economy is going to get “stimulated”? It’s a temporary boost, a fix, just as the word implies.
What we need beyond the stimulus package (a temporary fix) is to solve the root cause of our economic ails, and that will take long-term thinking, tough decisions, and a well-balanced approach. That is one big reason why Obama was elected.

Weeks before the Treasury Department announced a half-million dollar salary cap for executives at companies taking federal aid, one of President Obama’s TOP POLITICAL APPOINTEES REPORTED A SEVEN-FIGURE COMPENSATION DEAL with one of the nation’s biggest recipients of bailout cash.
Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew filed financial-disclosure papers last month showing he took home just under $1.1 million last year as a managing director at Citi Alternative Investments, a unit of Citigroup. So far, Citigroup has gotten $45 billion in FEDERAL BAILOUT FUNDS.
Last week, Treasury announced rules to keep senior executives at some firms that get bailout money from earning more than $500,000. The CAP WON’T APPLY to Mr. Lew, however. It isn’t retroactive, and not all executives at companies taking bailout money are affected by the new rules, compensation specialists say.
Mr. Obama promised to rein in big Wall Street paydays, especially at companies taking government bailout money.
“For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis is not only in bad taste — it’s a bad strategy — and I WILL NOT TOLERATE IT,” Mr. Obama told reporters last week.
That’ll show ‘em.

While President Barack Obama goes on the road to shore up slipping popular support for the $1 trillion stimulus porkfest that he ordered up from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Walt Minnick, a freshman Democrat from Idaho, is pushing a better idea: The Strategic Targeted American Recovery and Transition Act (START).
Minnick is a member of the Blue Dog caucus of occasionally conservative DEMOCRATS. His START plan is a $170 billion “bare bones” pure stimulus approach that would put $100 billion immediately into the pockets of low- and middle-income Americans, then use the other $70 billion for basic infrastructure projects that create jobs. START requires that all funds not spent by 2010 be returned to the Treasury. START also stops stimulus spending when the nation’s Gross Domestic Product increases in two of three previous quarters, and all START payments are required to be posted on a public website.
Minnick introduced START as an alternative – just in case the legislative process stalls out, says press secretary John Foster. As one of the brave 11 Democrats who voted against Pelosi’s stimulus bill, Minnick explained to folks back home that he opposed the speaker’s version because it was so “Christmas-treed up” with wasteful spending, like $300 million for golf carts. Foster told The Examiner that the House leadership encourages members to do what’s best for their districts, so there has been no backlash. We’ll see how long that lasts.
If they bothered to cover Minnick, the media would have to report that a DEMOCRAT managed to scrape off 5/6ths of the current stimulus package in FAT AND WASTE. Minnick eliminated almost $700 billion from the current compromise bill in the Senate by just focusing on TRUE STIMULUS SPENDING and limiting the scope of the bill to a single year. That should get some attention, if not to boost Minnick’s proposal, then at least to do some comparisons between the two packages to highlight the pork-barrel spending and waste that Pelosi, Reid, and Obama want railroaded through Congress.

Hey porkulus everyone of what you posted will create some sort of jobs.. Republicans should hang their heads in shame. They want this president to fail and they make it pretty obvious

this has “unitended consequences” written all over it.
we should buy American because they are better or because they are more economical.
look at the auto industry … it is a poster child of become self-absorbed, unresponsive to consumer needs, and in serious trouble
does the US even have the productive capacity to meet the buy American requirement at any price?