House Passes Economic Stimulus Package, Senate On Deck
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
9:30 PM

The chamber approved a proposal by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) that would boost transit funding by $3 billion, increasing capital assistance grants by $1.5 billion and urbanized area formula grants by $1.35 billion. The Nadler amendment also would provide an additional $150 million for "other than urbanized areas" formula grants and an extra $1.5 billion for capital investment discretionary grants.  Here is a breakdown of the other House floor amendments adopted to H.R. 1:

• Harry Teague (D-NM) - Requires that the Recovery.gov website contain links and other information on how to access job information created at or by entities receiving funding under the bill, including state, local, and other public agencies receiving recovery funds, and private firms contracted to perform work funded by the bill.

• Todd Platts (R-PA) - Contains the text of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 985, 110th Congress).

• Larry Kissell (D-NC) - Expands the Berry Amendment Extension Act (H.R. 917, 110th Congress) to include DHS to require the government to purchase uniforms for more than one hundred thousand uniformed employees from textile and apparel manufacturers.

• Maxine Waters (D-CA) - Provides that job training funds may be used for broadband deployment and related activities provided in the bill.

• Bill Shuster (R-PA) - Clarifies that federal funds received by states under the bill for highway maintenance cannot be used to replace existing funds in place for transportation projects.

• Ed Markey (D-MA) - Calls for the Secretary of Energy to require, as a condition of receiving funding under Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-140), that the demonstration projects utilize Internet-based or other open protocols and standards if available and appropriate, and would require that grants recipients utilize Internet-based or other open protocols and standards.

• James Oberstar (D-MN) - Amends the aviation, highway, rail, and transit priority consideration and "use-it-or-lose-it" provisions to require that 50 percent of the funds be obligated within 90 days.

Across the Capitol, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) released the text of the discretionary spending provisions contained in the Senate version of the economic stimulus package along with the accompanying committee report. Senate appropriators provided $7 billion more in overall discretionary funding than their House counterparts, with initiatives ranging from $400 million for rural business initiatives to $5 billion for jumpstarting efforts to computerize health records.