Cash Advances Cancelled for Some in Stimulus Package

No payday coming for some organizations

Many organizations and causes expecting cash advances through the government’s massive economic stimulus package will have to wait for other bills to come along. During the course of the debate so far regarding the stimulus package, a total of 41 items have been cut from the bill completely. Others have had the amount they will get reduced

To view the full list of items cut, visit CNN Money. I will detail some of the bigger cuts here.

State fiscal stabilization

One of the biggest items in the bill was infusing state budgets with cash. Surprisingly, the entire $40 billion that was dedicated to helping states balance their budgets has been cut from the bill completely.

I am sure that other items in the bill will help state budgets, and as long as the country’s economy is stimulated as a whole, the state economies will benefit, too. I have to say, though, with all of the other items that are in the bill, it surprises me that funding specifically dedicated to no other purpose besides financial stabilization was cut.

School construction

The biggest cut made to the stimulus package so far was the money slated for constructing schools. The cause was going to get $16 billion under a previous version of the plan. Now that funding has been completely eliminated.

I can argue for both sides of this decision. Constructing schools would accomplish a key goal of the stimulus package: to create jobs. More and better education will also be good for the economy in the long run. However, because of the time it takes to build schools, it would be a while before actual job creation began, and Congress has been stressing that the stimulus needs to work quickly. Also, more teacher jobs would ultimately cost the government more money.

An additional $3.5 billion was slated for higher education construction, and that funding was also cut.

Health prevention activity

An early version of the bill pledged major cash advances to people’s health. But now the $5.8 billion dedication to preventative health services has been cut. I think it’s unfortunate because this item could have helped many people who don’t have health insurance. However, I don’t see a clear way in which it would have stimulated the economy.

Broadband

From the beginning of his campaign, President Barack Obama has had a goal of making broadband service available for everyone. He wanted $2 billion in stimulus money dedicated to this cause, but it looks like he will have to wait for a later opportunity to achieve this goal. Funding for broadband has been cut from the bill. So if you live in an area where broadband isn’t available, you will have to wait for a later time to have access to the service.

Retrofitting Project 8 Housing

Project 8 Housing is government-owned or supplemented rental properties that are only available to low-income families. Congress tried to include funding to retrofit these rental properties to better weather earthquakes and other natural disasters. Originally $1.2 billion was slated for this cause, but now it has been eliminated.

This is another case, I think, in which the item was cut because it wouldn’t do enough to actually stimulate the economy. The project would have created jobs by putting people to work on doing the retrofitting, but perhaps it just wasn’t enough to justify the expense.

I guess those causes will just have to wait for another bill to get their cash advances.