Please note that Bob Bestani is now going to be a regular contributor to the ‘Grok – giving us a bit academic outlook than what Doug and I can. We are thrilled to have him on board!
Washington’s Great Bait and Switch
In a period when the nation’s trust in government is at a low point, one would think that the new Administration and especially the Congress would at least make an effort at keeping their word. Sadly this was not to be in the largest and most important action they have taken to date – the economic stimulus package. They sold the stimulus package as one that was largely oriented towards the infrastructure and other important public works to rebuild the nation’s crumbling physical base. What emerged was anything but.
Analysts at the Engineering News-Record (ENR) have just finished sifting through the 1,000 page bill that was used to frame the $787 billion in stimulus package – something the House of Representatives neglected to do. What emerged from this careful analysis shows that the stimulus package just approved by the Congress contains merely 16.5% of spending for infrastructure projects.
For all the reasons listed in previous articles by this author, this action is bo th tragic and misguided. At a time when the country’s infrastructure is in need of roughly $2 trillion in new spending, $130 billion is merely a token effort that we will long regret.
Here is how it breaks down according to ENR:
TRANSPORTATION [$49.3 billion]
- Highways: $27.5 billion
- Transit: $8.4 billion
- New discretionary grant program: $1.5 billio n for highways, transit, rail, seaports, other projects. U.S. Dept. of Transportation will choose which projects will be funded.
- Airport Improvement Program construction grants: $1.1 billion
- Rail: $9.3 billion, including $1.3 billion for Amtrak, $8 billion for high-speed rail
- Port, transit, rail security: $300 million
- DHS/Transportation Security Administration: $1 billion to procure, install airport explosives-detection, baggage-scanning equipment
- Coast Guard, bridge alterations: $142 million
- Coast Guard, ac quisition, construction, improvements: $98 million
DEFENSE/VETERANS [$7.8 billion]
- VA: $1.25 billion for hospital and other medical facility construction and upgrades
- DOD: $4.24 billion for "facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization," includes energy-efficiency improvements, plus repair and modernization of DOD buildings, including medical facilities.
- DOD: $2.33 billion for facilities projects, including housing, hospitals, child-care centers, other military "quality-of-life" projects.
HOUSING/HUD [$9. 6 billion]
- HUD Public Housing Capital Fund: $4 billion
- HUD redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes: $2 billion
- HUD energy retrofits, "green" projects in HUD-assisted housing projects: $250 million
- HUD Community Development Block Grants (housing, services, infrastructure): $1 billion
- HOME investment partnerships: $2.25 billion
- Lead-paint abatement: $100 million
ENERGY [$30.6 billion]
- Electricity grid, including "Smart-Grid" activities: $11 billion
- Home-weatherization assistance: $5 billion
- Energy-efficiency and conservation grants: $6.3 billion
- Renewable-energy loan guarantees: $6 billion
- Carbon-capture-and-sequestration demonstration projects: $1.52 billion
- Clean Coal Power Initiative, round III: $800 million
BUILDINGS [$13.4 billion]
- GSA federal buildings, energy-efficiency upgrades: $4.5 billion
- Border stations, ports of entry: $300 million
- Facilities on federal and tribal lands: $3.1 billion
- Fire stations (federal grants): $210 million
- GSA new Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters: $450 million < /li>
- GSA U.S. courthouses, other federal buildings: $300 million
- Agriculture Dept. bldgs/facilities: $200 million
- Agriculture Dept. rural facilities: $130 million (supports $1.234 billion in loans)
- NIST construction: $360 million
- NOAA procurement, acquisition and construction: $430 million
- NASA construction (hurricane damage repairs): $50 million
- National Science Foundation a cademic facilities modernization: $200 million
- NSF major research equipment and facilities construction: $400 million
- DHS consolidation: $200 million
- DHS ports of entry: $420 million
- Smithsonian facilities: $25 million
- National Institutes of Health, grants for construction, renovation of non-NIH research facilities: $1 billion
- NIH buildings and facilities (construction, renovation): $500 million
- Social Security Administration, National Computer Center replacement: $500 million
- State Dept. Capital Investment Fund: $90 million
WATER AND ENVIRONMENT [$20.1 billion]
- DOE environmental cleanup: $6 billion
- EPA Clean Water and Drinking Water funds: $6 billion
- EPA cleanup, including Superfund: $1.2 billion
- Agriculture Dept., rural-water a nd waste-disposal facilities: $1.28 billion appropriations, to support $3.8 billion in loans and grants
- Corps of Engineers civil works: $4.6 billion
- Bureau of Reclamation: $1 billion
SCHOOLS
No specific line item, but $39.5 billion of the $53.6-billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund will go to local school districts, and school modernization is one of several eligible uses for that $39.5 billion. Local school officials will decide how to use the funds.
