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Jobs Bill Passes House
A $154
billion dollar jobs package passed the House yesterday. The bill includes roughly $75 billion in
unspent Troubled Asset Relief Program infrastructure projects, as well as
assistance to states and localities to help avoid layoffs of police offers, firefighters,
teachers and other government workers.
It also includes a six-month extension of unemployment benefits, COBRA
health benefits and other emergency safety net programs.
Most
significantly the jobs bill included the restoration of the $2 billion taken
from the $6 billion in Recovery Act funding for the Section 1705 Low Guarantee Program for convention renewable energy
generation. The $2 billion was taken to
pay for the Cash for Clunkers Program earlier this year. The bill would make several changes to the
program that taken together expand the universe of eligible projects to include
energy efficiency projects to retrofit residential, commercial, and industrial
buildings, facilities and equipment. It
also exempts projects under $100 million from the requirement to provide a
third-party credit rating, which will facilitate the processing of project
eligibility. An eligible project may now
be located on two or more non-contiguous sites, which should aid among other
things the siting of projects on brownfields and other vacant property. Finally the legislation would make it
possible for a project applicant or sponsor of an eligible project to submit an
application for more than one eligible project at the same time.
The
provision to expand the funding to cover energy efficient projects is
particularly important, as energy efficiency projects are often most cost
effective, more labor intensive, and easier to locate in neighborhoods and
communities of all sizes that need jobs, lower energy costs, and economic
stimulus.
The Senate
is expected to take up the Jobs bill once the Senators reconvene in
January. Concerns about the deficit make
passage contentious. It will be very
important to let your opinions be known to your Senators prior to that debate.
For more information, please contact Diane De Vaul at ddevaul@nemw.org or 202-464-4009.
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Transportation in the Jobs Bill
The Jobs Bill was passed by the House of Representatives with $37 billion set to fund transportation projects. If signed into law, $27 billion will be distributed as highway funds among the states with $800 million of that going to Transportation Enhancements programs. $8.4 billion goes to the nation's transit systems with up to 10% of the total allowed to fund operations for transit authorities hit with budget deficits. $800 million is allocated for Amtrak, the majority of it for updated it locomotives and rolling stock, much of which exceeds average life expectancy. The Transportation & Infrastructure Committee estimates that 1,158,204 jobs will be created by the infrastructure spending meant to improve the aging infrastructure which impacts the country and especially our older cities.
For more information, please contact Fritz Ohrenschall at fohrenschall@nemw.org or 202-464-4020
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Links
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Transportation and Infrastructure Committee write-ups:
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We hope you have enjoyed this newsupdate, part of our "Re-Think, Re-Claim, Re-Build Our Older Cities" initiative. It is our goal to provide you with the best policy analysis and up-to-date information about important federal legislation and programs that have the potential to significantly affect our region.
Sincerely,
Greg Lewis
Greg Lewis, Policy Analyst
Northeast-Midwest Institute |
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