The Stimulus Bill Compromise, Sector by Sector   02/13/2009

Compiled by Tom Ichniowski

Here is a breakdown of construction-related spending in the $789-billion economic stimulus package, based on a summary released Feb. 12, about 3 p.m., by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

The committees said that the package, titled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, included $311 billion in new federal appropriations, or about 39% of the overall $789-billion measure.

ENR estimates the bill's allotment for construction-related spending at $131 billion. A more precise number cannot be determined. Why? First, some capital-spending funding in the bill can be used to purchase equipment as well as to fund construction--transit is one example.

Second, there is no amount specified in the bill for school construction, but the measure does allow local school districts to choose to finance facility modernizations--and non-construction programs--through a broad-based education set-aside in the bill's State Fiscal Stabilization program (see below).
TRANSPORTATION [$49.3 billion]
  • Highways: $27.5 billion

  • Transit: $8.4 billion

  • New discretionary grant program: $1.5 billion for highways, transit, rail, seaports, other projects. U.S. Dept. of Transportation would choose which projects would be funded

  • Airport Improvement Program construction grants: $1.1 billion

  • Rail: $9.3 billion, including allocations for Amtrak and high-speed rail

  • Port, transit, rail security: $300 million

  • DHS/Transportation Security Administration, procure, install airport explosives-detection, baggage-scanning equipment, $1 billion

  • Coast Guard, bridge alterations $142 million

  • Coast Guard, acquisition, construction, improvements $98 million
DEFENSE/VETERANS [$7.78 billion]
  • VA: $1.25 billion for hospital and other medical facility construction and upgrades

  • DOD: $4.240 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.
Photo: J. Peabody
 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 program $2,250

  • Lead paint abatement $100
SCHOOLS

No specific line item, but $39.5 billion of the bill's $53.6-billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund would go to local school districts, and school modernization would be one of several eligible uses for that $39.5 billion.

Presumably, the decisions on how to spend the school "stabilization" allotments would be made by the states.
ENERGY [$30.62 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 [$13.365 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

  • 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 academic 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 and 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

OTHER
  • Security, border fencing, infrastructure, technology $100 million