Here's What $800 Billion Buys Today

The final stimulus package is the final insult to taxpayers.

Veronique de Rugy | February 13, 2009

The final version of the stimulus bill is ready to be voted on by the House and the Senate.

Here's the good news: The $246 million tax credit to Hollywood that made its way to the initial House bill and was removed in the Senate version didn't make it to the final bill.

That's pretty much it for the good news.

Total spending amounts to $792 billion, with $570 billion in direct spending and $212 billion in tax provisions. These numbers don't include the massive amount of interest that will accrue on the increased debt. If we include that, the total amount comes to $1.14 trillion.

Supporters of the package describe the legislation as transportation and infrastructure investment, the idea being to use new spending to put America back to work while at the same time fixing decrepit infrastructure. However, only 17 percent of the discretionary spending in this package is for infrastructure items. More worrisome still, the final version lacks any mechanism to ensure that spending will be targeted toward infrastructure projects with high economic returns.

The conference report dedicates 30 percent of all discretionary spending to 33 new programs totaling $95 billion and expands 73 programs which are normally part of the regular appropriations process by $92 billion.

In one interesting twist, the conference committee dropped many of the prohibitions included in the version passed by the Senate. These prohibitions were the result of an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) last week. The Senate voted 73-24 to prohibit wasteful or low-priority spending items from the bill. The amendment read as follows:

None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project.

However, the conference version includes the following provision, which drops many of the prohibitions from that list.

SEC. 1604. none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this Act may be used by any State or local government, or any private entity for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, or swimming pool.

So now funds can go to museums, stadiums, arts centers, theaters, parks, or highway beautification projects. Most significantly, this reopens the door for many of the projects on the U.S. Conference of Mayors' wish list of "shovel ready" projects that includes many items that are nothing but waste and pork, such as doorbells, construction of dog parks, replacement of street lights, and money for a "mob museum."

To get a sense of what made it through the supposedly thorough "scrubbing" process, consider the following povisions:

$24 million for United States Department of Agriculture buildings and rent
$176 million for renovating Agricultural Research Service buildings
$290 million for flood prevention
$50 million for watershed rehabilitation
$1.4 billion for wastewater disposal programs
$295 million for administrative expenses associated with food stamp programs
$1 billion for the 2010 Census
$200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
$650 million for the digital TV converter box coupon program
$2 billion for Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program
$10 million to combat Mexican gunrunners
$125 million for rural communities to combat drug crimes
$1 billion for the Community Oriented Policing Services program
$1 billion for NASA
$300 million to purchase scientific instruments for colleges and museums
$400 million for equipment and facilities at the National Science Foundation
$3.7 billion to conduct "green" renovations on military bases
$375 million for Mississippi River projects
$10 million for urban canals
$5 billion for weatherizing buildings
$2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
$3.4 billion for fossil energy research
$5.1 billion for environmental cleanup around military bases
$5.5 billion for "green" federal buildings
$300 million for "green" cars for federal employees
$20 million for IT upgrades at the Small Business Administration
$200 million to design and furnish Department of Homeland Security headquarters
$98 million earmarked for a polar icebreaker
$210 million for State and local fire stations
$125 million to restore trails and abandoned mines
$146 million for trail maintenance at National Park Service sites
$140 million for volcano monitoring systems
$600 million for the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund environmental cleanup program
$200 million to clean up leaking underground storage tanks
$500 million for forest health and wildfire prevention
$25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$1.2 billion for "youth activities" (for "youth" up to 24 years old)
$500 million earmarked for National Institute of Health facilities
$1 billion for Head Start Program
$32 million for home-delivered nutrition services
$160 million for volunteer programs at the Corporation for National and Community Service
$500 million earmarked for the SSA National Computer Center in Maryland
$220 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico
$8 billion for high-speed railways (This amount is 4 times higher than the one voted on Tuesday in the Senate bill)
$1.3 billion for Amtrak

On the tax side of the package, the tax credit for golf carts was retained, along with $300 million for Federal Employee Company Cars. And despite the role that home buying played in putting the economy into recession, the conference report also includes tax credits—up to $15,000—for buying new homes.

Perhaps the worst part, however, appears in Section 1607 of the final bill. This section essentially says that if a governor refuses to accept stimulus funds allocated to his or her state, the state legislature can override the governor's decision by passing a concurrent resolution. It means that governors, such as South Carolina's Gov. Mark Sanford, who have said that they would not accept the money, could be overridden by their state legislative bodies.

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|4.20.10 @ 4:07AM|#

800 billion would be enough to buy a 3rd world country with a pool as large as a lake! =)

|4.20.10 @ 4:08AM|#

800 billion would be enough to buy a 3rd world country with a pool as large as a lake! haha =)

|9.6.10 @ 1:21AM|#

Value of money really increases as days goes by. I wonder what will be the value of $1 after 10 years, maybe it cannot afford to buy a single candy for my grandchild.

12 Red Roses

|11.29.10 @ 4:22PM|#

Can you imagine $800 billion worth of pennies poured into a giant swimming pool?

|1.12.11 @ 3:51PM|#

Yeah I can imagine this. Can this happen in my pool ? hehe . I live in a baza firm - nice weather but still need those coins :)

Digital Converter Box|3.4.11 @ 6:53PM|#

That was a very interesting read, thanks for taking the time to post it.

Scarpe Nike|8.8.11 @ 4:32AM|#

is good

caibutou|2.15.12 @ 5:03AM|#

thank

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