AP: Obama Seeks to Destroy Reagan's Vision

Without pulling punches or attempting to obfuscate the truth, the Associated Press Saturday said what conservatives and Republicans have been saying for the past two years about the new president: Barack Obama, with his new budget plan, seeks "to undo major elements of Ronald Reagan's conservative movement."

While tackling the economic crisis, [Obama] is asking Congress to enact contentious measures that have been debated, but not decided, in calmer times: combat global warming with a pollution tax on industries; cut subsidies for big farms; raise taxes on the wealthy; make big changes to health care, including lower reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid treatments and prescription drugs.

AP said Obama is not simply proposing a budget with a jaw-dropping deficit of $1.75 trillion, a quadruple increase in one year. "He's trying to redirect strong currents in American society."

Many conservatives have warned that Obama says one thing while doing something altogether different.

Today, even the Associated Press sees that Obama, who attempts to paint himself as a new Reagan, is setting out to destroy Reagan's ideals and the conservative movement.

Read it.

Durbin Amendment: A Fairness Doctrine by Any Other Name is Still a Fairness Doctrine

In an essay published on the NewsBusters.org Web site, Seton Motley writes that yesterday by a whopping 87-11 vote, the Senate added as a rider to the passed DC voting rights bill the Broadcaster Freedom Act (BFA). The BFA, if also passed by the House and signed by the President, would kill once and for all the Censorship Doctrine -- also mis-known as the "Fairness" Doctrine.

Because another rider was added via a party-line 57-41 vote. Written by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, S.160's Purpose is "To encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership, and to ensure that the public airwaves are used in the public interest."

Hello, new "Fairness" Doctrine - the regulatory enforcement of "diversity" of radio station ownership, and localism as defined by the "public interest." Liberal censors are now travelling alternative routes to reach their original destination - silencing political speech on the airwaves.

One tremendous problem with this amendment, with the Censorship Doctrine itself and in fact with virtually every aspect of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s broadcast licensing requirements is that they are all completely nebulous. President Barack Obama's FCC can interpret these regulations in any direction it wishes, which more than likely bodes poorly for free speech on the radio.

And the worst part of the Durbin Amendment is the possibility that Obama's FCC may now be empowered to prematurely pull the broadcast licenses of radio stations they deem as failing to meet these new "Fairness" Doctrine-esque guidelines. Several lawyers who do this for a living see this rider's wording as amorphous enough to allow for this interpretation.

This would be absolutely devastating to talk radio. Stations currently carrying Conservative and Christian talk would be perpetually under the FCC gun -- never knowing when the regulatory hammer would fall and crush their businesses. They would feel tremendous pressure to change formats so as to be able to stay on the air.

And no one would be able to justify the tremendous expense of getting into talk radio if their lifeline -- their broadcast license -- could be pulled capriciously at any time.

In the real world, the public interest is best served by what the public is interested in. Conservative and Christian talk radio survives and thrives because people listen, and Liberal talk fails because they don't.

But none of this matters in this brave new "diverse" world. Liberals never liked the free market with it's equality of opportunity. They have always preferred an equality of outcome - where shows that have listeners are forced to share the airwaves with those that don't.

The Durbin Amendment solves the Left's "Fairness" Doctrine dilemma. It gets them what they want -- radio free of Conservative and Christian talk -- without the political baggage of carrying the "Fairness" Doctrine name.

For them, a rose by any other name still smells as sweet if it serves to silence the opposition.

Read it.

Life in the Obamanation: Economy Shrinks at Worst Pace in 25 Years

The Associated Press today reported that the economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into recession.

The Commerce Department report released Friday showed the economy sinking much faster than the 3.8 percent annualized drop for the October-December quarter first estimated by the government last month. It also was considerably weaker than the 5.4 percent annualized decline economists expected.

Read it.

After Successfully Trash-Talking US Economy into Crisis, Democrats Target Other Nations

Argentina on Thursday blasted Obama's new head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for saying the country, along with Ecuador and Venezuela, could be pushed into instability by the global economic crisis, according to a Reuters report.

Lumping Argentina together with Ecuador and Venezuela, both led by leftist anti-Washington firebrands, raises concern in this country, where center-left President Cristina Kirchner is trying to keep the economy from stagnating.

Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana called the comments made on Wednesday by CIA Director Leon Panetta "unfounded and irresponsible, especially from an agency that has a sad history of meddling in the affairs of countries in the region."

Read it.

Zogby: Only 27% Believe They Will Benefit from Stimulus

Just 27% of likely voters are optimistic the recently passed federal economic stimulus bill will personally benefit them or their family, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows.

The survey finds likely voters favor proposals from Democrats over those from Republicans, but 23% have little confidence in ideas from either party.

More than half - 56% - are doubtful the stimulus package will personally help them, and another 17% are unsure.

Read it.

Obama's 2% Delusion

Take everything they earn, and it still won't be enough.

President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it, the editors of the Wall Street Journal noted today.

On Tuesday, [Obama] left the impression that we need merely end "tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans," and he promised that households earning less than $250,000 won't see their taxes increased by "one single dime."

This is going to be some trick, the Wall Street Journal said.

Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can't possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama's new spending ambitions.

Consider the IRS data for 2006, the most recent year that such tax data are available and a good year for the economy and "the wealthiest 2%." Roughly 3.8 million filers had adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 in 2006. (That's about 7% of all returns; the data aren't broken down at the $250,000 point.) These people paid about $522 billion in income taxes, or roughly 62% of all federal individual income receipts. The richest 1% -- about 1.65 million filers making above $388,806 -- paid some $408 billion, or 39.9% of all income tax revenues, while earning about 22% of all reported U.S. income.

Mr. Obama is of course counting on an economic recovery. And he's also assuming along with the new liberal economic consensus that taxes don't matter to growth or job creation. The truth, though, is that they do. Small- and medium-sized businesses are the nation's primary employers, and lower individual tax rates have induced thousands of them to shift from filing under the corporate tax system to the individual system, often as limited liability companies or Subchapter S corporations. The Tax Foundation calculates that merely restoring the higher, Clinton-era tax rates on the top two brackets would hit 45% to 55% of small-business income, depending on how inclusively "small business" is defined. These owners will find a way to declare less taxable income.

The Journal concludes by saying the bottom line is that Obama is selling the country on a 2% illusion. Unwinding the U.S. commitment in Iraq and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire can't possibly pay for his agenda.

Taxes on the not-so-rich will need to rise as well.

Read it.

Obama Speech Depresses Wall Street

Stocks fell Wednesday on disappointment that Obama still seemed clueless about how his administration would shore up the economy in a major speech before Congress.

By 10 AM, the Dow had dropped almost 150 points to 7200.

AP: Obama's Words Ring Hollow

In the most objective sense, much of the political reporting published by the Associated Press has been biased to favor the left. It comes as some surprise then that AP has become increasingly tough on Obama, sometimes even calling out his less than honest statements. Perhaps they feel Obama isn't living up to the campaign hype? If only they had done this before the election....

In today's fact check report, AP asserts that Obama's housing plan assurances ring hollow and that the president skipped over several complex economic circumstances in his speech to Congress

Read it.

Obama Disapproval Grows to 25%

Gallup: Obama Job Approval

Obama's disapproval rating has grown to 25 percent while his approval rating has dropped to 59 percent.

16 percent now say they are undecided about Obama's performance.

77 percent are dissatisfied with the state of the nation.

In the final analysis, this makes Obama less popular than Bush after the first month in office.

Almost exactly eight years ago, then newly-elected President Bush's numbers were 62 percent approving his performance, 21 percent disapproving, and 17 percent having no opinion.

Read it.

Obama Job Approval Dips Below 60% for First Time

Getting to $787 Billion: H.R. 1, The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009

Sorry about the foul formatting here. The content is just too rich to pass up because the table size is larger than the post window.

Keep in mind that the figures in the third and fourth columns are in millions of dollars.

Category	Description	Cost ($ millions)	Total (Funds appropriated)	Estimated outlays (Congressional Budget Office estimates of actual cost of programs)
Farming	Repairs, security improvements and rental payments at Department of Agriculture	$24
Farming	Repairs and security improvements at Agricultural Research Service	$176
Farming	Salaries for staff to modernize IT system at Farm Service Agency	$50
Farming	Funding for watershed and flood prevention projects	$290
Farming	Funding for watershed rehabilitation	$50
Farming	Loans to rural homeowners	$200
Farming	Guaranteed loans for rural community facility building	$130
Farming	Guaranteed loans for rural businesses	$150
Farming	Grants for rural waste and waste disposal	$1,380
Farming	Broadband grants to rural communities	$2,500
Farming	Oversight of Department of Agriculture spending	$25.5
Food	Extra money for women, infants and children (WIC) special nutrition program	$500
Food	Extra commodities for food banks	$150
Food	Adult and child day care meals and snacks	$100
Food	Crop insurance reinstatement for farmers who failed to keep up with payments, emergency loans and grants to farmers	$749
Food	13% increase in food stamp payments	$19,991
Farming & Food			$26,466	$26,431
Commerce	Urban industrial core and rural economic recovery programs	$150
Commerce	Extra money for Census	$1,000
Commerce	Salaries and expenses for program to create broadband inventory map of the country	$350
Commerce	Grants to provide wireless and broadband infrastructure to communities, including public computer centers and sustainable adoption of broadband service	$4,350
Commerce	Coupons, education and consumer support for digital to analogue converter box program	$650
Commerce	Oversight of Commerce Department spending	$6
Science	National Institute of Standards and Technology research, including research into technology with high-growth potential and program giving technology to small and mid-size manufacturers	$220
Science	NIST facilities construction and maintenance backlog	$360
Science	Extra money for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facilities and research	$230
Science	Extra money for NOAA satellite development including climate data sensors and modeling	$600
Science	Grants to state and local law enforcement	$2,225
Justice	Grants to rural law enforcement	$125
Justice	Grants to law enforcement on southwest border	$40
Justice	Grants for victims compensation programs	$100
Justice	Grants for tribal law enforcement	$225
Justice	Grants for state and local law enforcement to pursue Internet sex offenders	$50
Justice	Grants to state and local law enforcement to hire extra police officers	$1,000
Justice	Grants for violence against women prevention and prosecution programs	$225
Justice	Costs of administering extra grant money	$10
Science	NASA shuttle construction	$400
Science	NASA climate research	$400
Science	NASA aeronautics research	$150
Science	NASA rebuilding of facilities damaged in 2008 floods	$50
Science	NASA spending oversight	$2
Science	National Science Foundation research	$2,500
Science	Construction of new research equipment and facilities for NSF	$400
Science	NSF education activities	$100
Science	NSF spending oversight	$2
Commerce, Science & Justice			$15,920	$15,810
Defense	Restoration and modernization of Defense facilities in U.S. and territories	$3,840
Defense	Research and development of renewable energy generation for military	$300
Defense	Improvements and reparations to military medical facilities in U.S. and territories	$400
Defense	Department of Defense spending oversight	$15
Defense			$4,555	$4,531
Environment	Flood control and water management construction, regulation and investigations	$4,125
Environment	Mississippi River and tributary construction	$375
Environment	Clean-up of 'brownfield' former industrial sites	$100
Environment	Water reclamation and reuse projects	$1,000
Energy	Home weatherization grants to low and middle-income families	$5,000
Energy	Funding for Energy Star program offering tax credits to consumers purchasing new, efficient appliances	$300
Energy	Advanced batteries manufacturing grants	$2,000
Energy	Energy efficiency grants to states and local governments	$6,300
Energy	Transport electrification grants	$400
Energy	Funding for states and local governments to buy efficient alternative fuel buses and trucks	$300
Energy	Research and development of renewable and efficient energy technology	$2,500
Energy	Loan guarantees for standard renewables	$4,000
Energy	Transmission loan guarantees	$2,000
Energy	Fossil energy research and development	$1,000
Energy	Research into low-emission coal plants	$800
Energy	Grants for industrial carbon capture and energy efficiency improvement projects	$1,520
Energy	Grants for identifying sites to store carbon dioxide emissions	$50
Energy	Grants for training and research on safe storage of carbon emission\	$20
Energy	Administration of funding program	$10
Energy	Physics research including high-energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences	$1,600
Energy	High-risk research into energy sources and energy efficiency	$400
Energy	Cleanup of former nuclear sites	$483
Energy	Uranium enrichment decontamination and decommissioning	$390
Energy	Cleanup of former nuclear defense sites	$5,127
Energy	Money for federal power marketing administrations in electric power transmission systems	$6,500
Energy	Construction and repairs for federal marketing administration	$10
Energy	Modernization of the electric grid	$4,400
Energy	Training of electric grid workers	$100
Energy	Oversight of Energy Department spending	$15
Environment & Energy			$50,825	$50,775
Government	Oversight of 'making work pay tax credit' and economic recovery payments	$7
Government	Treasury grants to community financial services and economic development groups	$100
Government	Construction, repair and energy alterations to federal buildings and facilities	$5,550
Government	Purchase of fuel efficient vehicles for federal fleet	$300
Government	Oversight of General Services Administration spending	$7
Government	Costs to Internal Revenue Service of providing health coverage help to workers laid off because of outsourcing overseas	$80
Government	Funding for Recovery and Accountability Transparency Board	$84
Government	Small Business Administration loans to businesses	$651
Government	Extra money for SBA administration of loans	$69
Government	Oversight of SBA spending	$10
Government			$6,858	$6,707
Homeland Security	Funding for departmental site security, IT infrastructure, furniture, fixtures and other costs for HQ	$200
Homeland Security	Oversight of Homeland Security spending	$5
Homeland Security	Construction, repairs and equipment for ports of entry to the U.S.	$420
Homeland Security	Purchase and deployment of non-intrusive inspection systems for Customs and Border Protection	$100
Homeland Security	Tactical communications equipment for Customs and Border Protection	$60
Homeland Security	Border security fencing and technology	$100
Homeland Security	Immigrations and Customs Enforcement information-sharing technology	$20
Homeland Security	Explosive detection systems for airports	$1,000
Homeland Security	Funding for Coast Guard acquisitions and construction, which cannot be used for pre-acquisition surveys or construction of a new polar icebreaker	$98
Homeland Security	Repairing and removing bridges hazardous to marine navigation	$142
Homeland Security	Grants for security upgrades to mass transit	$150
Homeland Security	Grants for security upgrades to ports	$150
Homeland Security	Competitive grants to upgrade state and local fire stations	$210
Homeland Security	Extra emergency food and shelter funding for homeless	$100
Homeland Security			$2,755	$2,744
Outdoors	Deferred maintenance on federal lands	$125
Outdoors	Priority road, bridge and trail repairs	$180
Outdoors	Wildland fire management	$15
Outdoors	Wildlife refuge and fish hatchery construction, deferred maintenance, road maintenance and energy efficient visitors centers	$280
Outdoors	National Park Service deferred maintenance	$735
Outdoors	Preservation grants for historically black colleges and universities	$15
Outdoors	Repairing facilities and equipment for USGS' seismic, volcano, monitoring and stream gages	$140
Outdoors	Repair of schools, detention centers, roads, bridges, housing, irrigation and dams on Indian reservations	$490
Outdoors	Indian guaranteed loans	$10
Outdoors	Interior spending oversight	$15
Outdoors	Cleanup of hazardous and toxic waste sites	$600
Outdoors	Cleanup of petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks	$200
Outdoors	Loans for communities to upgrade wastewater treatment systems and drinking water infrastructure	$6,400
Outdoors	Environmental Protection Agency spending oversight	$20
Outdoors	Renovation of forest roads, bridges and trails, remediation of abandoned mines, removal of barriers to fish and other critical habitat	$650
Outdoors	Fire hazard reduction on federal and state lands	$500
Indian reservations	Indian Health Facilities construction, maintenance and equipment	$347
Indian reservations	Indian Health Facilities sanitation construction	$68
Indian reservations	Indian Health Services IT development and deployment	$85
Arts	Smithsonian Institution	$25
Arts	Grants to fund arts projects in non-profit sector	$50
Outdoors, Indian reservations, Arts			$10,950	$10,545
Labor	Grants to states for adult employment and training activities	$500
Labor	Grants to states for youth training, including summer jobs	$1,200
Labor	Grants to states for dislocated worker employment and training activities	$1,250
Labor	Grants to states with highest unemployment numbers for employment and training	$200
Labor	Funds to national reserve assistance for dislocated workers	$750
Labor	Training high-risk youth in construction job skills	$50
Labor	Community service program for low-income over-55s	$120
Labor	Funding for states' unemployment insurance and employment service agencies	$400
Labor	Extra funds for department to manage enforcement of labor laws	$80
Labor	Office of Job Corps construction and modernization of residential facilities for at-risk youth	$250
Labor	Department of Labor spending oversight	$6
Health and services	Renovation and health IT purchases for community health centers	$2,000
Health and services	Training of nurses, primary care physicians, dentists to practice in underserved communities in the National Health Service Corps	$500
Health and services	National Institutes of Health biomedical research	$9,500
Health and services	NIH buildings and facilities repairs and renovations	$500
Health and services	Funding for research comparing effectiveness of treatments funded by Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP	$1,100
Health and services	Grants to states for childcare services for low-income working parents	$2,000
Health and services	"Head Start" programs for low-income preschoolers	$1,000
Health and services	"Early Head Start" programs for low-income infants	$1,100
Health and services	Grants for community employment, food, housing and healthcare projects	$1,000
Health and services	Grants to faith-based and community organizations	$50
Health and services	Grants for elderly nutrition services including Meals on Wheels	$100
Health and services	Extra money for Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology	$2,000
Health and services	Funding for community preventative health campaigns, vaccination programs, healthcare-associated infection reduction strategies	$1,000
Health and services	Funding to improve IT security at the Department of Health and Human Services	$50
Health and services	Oversight of Department of Health and Human Services spending	$17
Education	Funding for 'Title I' education programs for disadvantaged children.	$13,000
Education	Construction funding for school districts without a local property-tax base.	$100
Education	Funding for school computer and science laboratories and technology training for teachers.	$650
Education	Funding for services to homeless children including meals and transportation.	$70
Education	Grants for states to address teacher shortages	$200
Education	Grants for special education programs	$12,200
Education	Grants to states for vocational rehabilitation for disabled people	$540
Education	Grants to states for independent living centers and services for elderly blind people	$140
Education	Increase in Pell Grant to $5,350 in 2009 and to $5,550 in 2010, and other increases to student aid	$17,114
Education	Money to increase size of colleges' student aid funds	$60
Education	Money for colleges' work-study programs	$200
Education	Grants for teacher training and professional development	$100
Education	Funding for grants for states to create systems tracking individual student data	$250
Education	Department of Education spending oversight	$14
Volunteering	Extra money for AmeriCorps volunteer programs	$160
Volunteering	Extra money for National Service Trust volunteer programs	$40
Volunteering	Corporation for National and Community Service spending oversight	$1
Social Security	Construction of new National Computer Center for Social Security Administration	$500
Social Security	Extra money for Social Security Administration to process disability and retirement claim backlogs	$500
Social Security	Oversight of SSA spending	$2
Labor, Health, Education, Volunteering & Social Security			$72,564	$71,271
Oversight	Oversight of economic recovery package	$25
Oversight			$25	$25
Military	Army child development centers	$80
Military	Army "warrior transition complexes"	$100
Military	Navy and Marine Corps troop housing	$100
Military	Navy and Marine Corps child development centers	$80
Military	Navy and Marine Corps energy conservation and alternative energy projects	$100
Military	Air Force troop housing	$100
Military	Air Force child development centers	$80
Military	Defense hospital construction	$1,330
Military	Defense energy conservation investments	$120
Military	Army National Guard construction	$50
Military	Air National Guard construction	$50
Military	Army family housing construction and repairs	$38.439
Military	Air Force family housing construction	$96.561
Military	Programs for military homeowners facing mortgage problems	$555
Veterans	Improvements to Veterans Affairs benefits administration, IT and claims processing	$200
Veterans	Renovations and energy efficiency improvements to veterans medical facilities	$1,000
Veterans	Grants for construction of state extended care facilities for veterans	$150
Veterans	National Cemetery renovations and repairs	$50
Veterans	Oversight of VA and military spending	$1
Military & Veterans			$4,281	$4,246
State	Passport and training funding for State Department	$90
State	Creation of information management backup facility for State Department, funding for participation in cybersecurity program	$290
State	State Department spending oversight	$2.0
State	Repair and rehabilitation of flood control levees on Rio Grande, with remainder of money for IT investments at U.S. Agency for International Development	$220
State			$602	$602
Transportation	Grants for airport improvements	$1,100
Transportation	Upgrades to Federal Aviation Administration power systems, air traffic control centers and towers and airport lighting, navigation and landing equipment	$200
Transportation	Grants for highway improvements	$29,000
Transportation	Grants to Amtrak	$1,300
Transportation	Grants for capital investments in designated high-speed rail corridors	$8,000
Transportation	Public transit improvements and infrastructure investments	$8,400
Transportation	Grants for investments and improvements to small domestic shipyards	$100
Transportation	Department of Transportation spending oversight	$20
Housing	Repairs and modernization of public housing projects	$4,000
Housing	Grants to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency on Native American housing programs	$510
Housing	Grants for community and economic development projects	$1,000
Housing	Grants for short-term help with rent and housing relocation for homeless families	$1,500
Housing	Energy efficiency retrogrades to low-income housing, including new insulation, windows and furnaces	$2,250
Housing	Funds for communities to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed and vacant properties	$2,000
Housing	Funds for building and rehabilitating low-income housing using green technology	$2,250
Housing	Grants for removing lead-based paint in low-income housing	$100
Housing	Department of Housing and Urban Development spending oversight	$15
Housing	Increase in government-sponsored mortgage provider conforming loan limits	$50
Transportation & Housing			$61,795	$61,051
Aid	Aid to states to balance education budgets, prevent cutbacks and modernize schools	$40,600
Aid	Aid to states in form of bonus grants for meeting key performance measures in education	$5,000
Aid	Aid to states for public safety and critical services	$8,000
Aid			$53,600	$53,600
Aid	Tax breaks for low-income housing investors	$143
Aid			$143	$143
	SPENDING TOTAL		$311,339	$308,481
Individual tax cuts	$400 payroll tax credit for workers earning up to $75,000; married couples filing jointly get $800 for income up to $150,000	$116,199
Individual tax cuts	Increase in earned income tax credit for working families with more than three children	$4,663
Individual tax cuts	Increased eligibility for refundable child tax credit, with all income over $3000 qualifying	$14,830
Individual tax cuts	Tax credit of up to $2500 for tuition and college expenses	$13,907
Individual tax cuts	Computers and computer technology will qualify for inclusion in tax-advantaged savings plans	$6
Individual tax cuts	A tax credit for first-time homebuyers increases from $7500 to $8000, and will not have to be repaid	$6,638
Individual tax cuts	Taxpayers earning less than $125,000 can deduct sales and excise taxes paid on new cars	$1,684
Individual tax cuts	$2400 of unemployment benefits will not be subject to federal income tax	$4,740
Individual tax cuts	Middle-income taxpayers get an exemption from the alternative minimum tax of $46,700 for an individual and $70,950 for a married couple	$69,759
Individual tax cuts			$232,426
Business tax cuts	Businesses will be able to more quickly deduct the cost of investments in plant and equipment from their taxable income	$5,074
Business tax cuts	Businesses will be allowed to recover alternative minimum tax and research and development credits faster	$805
Business tax cuts	Small businesses will be allowed to write-off up to $250,000 of capital expenditures in the year of acquisition	$41
Business tax cuts	Unprofitable small businesses with annual receipts of less than $15 million can recoup taxes paid in the past five years, up from two	$947
Business tax cuts	Companies will be allowed to defer taxes for five years on several transactions aimed at restructuring balance sheets, and repay the taxes over the following five years	$1,622
Business tax cuts	Businesses will be able to claim a tax credit for 40% of the first $6000 of wages paid to unemployed veterans or 16-25-year-olds hired	$231
Business tax cuts	Small businesses will be able to exclude 75% of the gain from the sale of some stock held more than five years	$829
Business tax cuts	Taxable corporations converting into S corporations will have a 7-year holding period for assets subject to built-in gains tax, from 10 years	$415
Business tax cuts	Restoring tougher rules on taxpayers claiming losses incurred by a company before they bought it is projected to raise money	-$6,977
Business tax cuts	Some companies restructuring may not be subject to those tougher rules	$3,163
Business tax cuts			$6,150
Manufacturing tax cuts	Manufacturing facilities producing "intangible property" such as patents can qualify for industrial development bonds	$203
Manufacturing tax cuts	Facilities making advanced energy property may be able to claim a new 30% investment tax credit	$1,647
Manufacturing tax cuts			$1,850
Economy tax cuts	$10 billion "new markets tax credits" will be available for 2008 and 2009	$815
Economy tax cuts	$25 billion of bonds for investment in economic recovery zones will be created	$5,371
Economy tax cuts	Tribal governments will have fewer requirements on their ability to issue tax-exempt bonds	$315
Economy tax cuts			$6,501
Infrastructure tax cuts	High-speed rail facilities for trains capable of going at 150 miles per hour will qualify for facility bonds	$288
Infrastructure tax cuts	Rules affecting state and local government bonds will be changed to improve marketability	$3,789
Infrastructure tax cuts	A 3% withholding on payments to government contractors will be delayed for one year	$291
Infrastructure tax cuts	$22 billion in new tax credit bonds for construction or repair of public schools	$9,877
Infrastructure tax cuts	$2.8 billion of bonds for schools working with businesses	$1,045
Infrastructure tax cuts	35% credit to bondholders for infrastructure bonds, 35% refundable credit to issuers of bonds	$4,348
Infrastructure tax cuts			$19,638
Energy tax cuts	Extending by three years the placed-in-service date for renewable energy investments	$13,143
Energy tax cuts	Investment credits in lieu of production credits for renewable energy purchases	$285
Energy tax cuts	Removal of cap on tax credits for purchase of small wind systems	$604
Energy tax cuts	$1.6 billion extra allocation of clean energy bonds	$578
Energy tax cuts	$2.4 billion extra qualified energy conservation bonds	$803
Energy tax cuts	30% cap on tax credit for energy efficiency purchases by homeowners, up to $1500 per residence	$2,034
Energy tax cuts	Credit for purchase of residential solar, geothermal, wind and fuel cells	$268
Energy tax cuts	50% tax credit for purchase of alternative refueling stations	$54
Energy tax cuts	Tax credit for plug-in electric vehicle conversion	$2,002
Energy tax cuts	Equalization of parking and transit tax-free employer benefits at $230 for 2009	$192
Energy tax cuts			$19,963
Energy tax cuts	Grants to states for low-income housing projects in lieu of credits	$5
	Grants to states for energy projects in lieu of credits	$69
Other tax cuts	Customs and Border Protection will not demand that U.S. lumber, steel and other companies repay money they were given from Canadian and Mexican import duties	$90
Energy & Other tax cuts			$164
Individual aid	One-time payment of $250 for retirees, disabled people, SSI recipients, railroad retirees and disabled veterans	$14,225
Individual aid	One-time refundable tax credit of $250 for some government retirees not eligible for social security benefits	$218
Individual aid			$14,443
	TAX CUTS TOTAL		$301,135	$288,339
Individual aid	Two-year extension of program providing income support and training benefits for workers who lose their jobs because of outsourcing overseas	$1,600
Individual aid	Extension of jobless benefits for up to 33 weeks	$26,960
Individual aid	Increase in weekly unemployment benefits by $25	$8,800
Individual aid	Grants for states modernizing unemployment compensation coverage among low-wage, part-time and other workers	$2,975
Individual aid	Waiver on interest payments and accrual in interest on loans held by state unemployment trust funds	$1,100
Individual aid	Extension of unemployment compensation by 13 weeks for railroad workers	$21
Individual aid	Aid to states to administer extended benefits	$138
Individual aid	Aid to states for temporary assistance to needy families payments (TANF)	$2,418
Individual aid	Extra aid to states with high population group or increased poverty for TANF payments	$319
Individual aid	Extra funding for child support enforcement	$1,000
Individual aid	Costs of providing health coverage help to workers laid off because of outsourcing overseas	$457
Individual aid			$45,788	$58,143
Individual aid	65% subsidy for laid-off workers to continue paying premiums for former employer's health plan for nine months	$24,749
Individual aid			$24,749	$24,677
Health care	Incentive payments to hospitals and physicians who computerize medical-records systems	$17,559
Health care			$17,559	$17,559
Health care	Federal aid to states for Medicaid spending	$90,044
Health care			$90,044	$90,042
	AID TOTAL		$178,140	$190,421
	TOTAL		$790,614	$787,241