See For Yourself Just What’s In The Senate's Stimulus Bill

If you were wondering what’s in the stimulus package that’s being put together by the U.S. Senate, I found a concise breakdown of the allocations from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) here.

Unlike the full text of the bill, this is an easily skimmable 25 pages. If you’re wondering what’s in it, take a look.

When you’re looking at the dollar amounts that the different industries and interests are lined up to receive, something to keep in mind is that there’s no guarantee that all the money being requested in the bill will actually ever be spent. It’s like a giant line of credit.

Case in point: there are sometimes clauses in the specific grants mandating that States match some proportion of the federal funds they wish to receive. For example, in the Health Information Technology section of the Senate’s bill in section 3013, subsection (i) there’s a clause that says:

(i) Required Match-
(1) IN GENERAL- For a fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2011), the Secretary may not make a grant under subsection (a) to a State unless the State agrees to make available non-Federal contributions (which may include in-kind contributions) toward the costs of a grant awarded under subsection (a)(3) in an amount equal to—
(A) for fiscal year 2011, not less than $1 for each $10 of Federal funds provided under the grant;
(B) for fiscal year 2012, not less than $1 for each $7 of Federal funds provided under the grant; and
(C) for fiscal year 2013 and each subsequent fiscal year, not less than $1 for each $3 of Federal funds provided under the grant.

So, while the funds have been pledged, if a state cannot come up with their match, then the federal money will not be disbursed.

Gee, I wonder how a State could raise $20 million it didn’t have in its budget previously...