ARRA also includes $150 million for the Economic Development Administration (EDA), with $50 million for economic adjustment assistance and up to $50 million may be transferred to federally authorized regional economic development commissions.

Department of Energy

ARRA includes $39 billion in stimulus funding for the Department of Energy (DoE) as part of the package’s support for upgrading the country’s infrastructure and power grid. DoE allocations include funding for the department’s science office, research grants, and energy efficiency programs.

The stimulus bill provides $16.8 billion for DoE energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including $2.5 billion to support applied research, development, demonstration and deployment of advanced energy technologies. Almost half of this R&D funding will be dedicated to biomass- and geothermal-related projects, which will receive $800 million and $400 million respectively. Other energy efficiency and renewable energy investments include:

• Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants - $3.2 billion, including $400 million in competitive grants; the program provides federal grants to units of local government, Indian tribes, and states to reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and for improvements in energy efficiency;
• Weatherization Assistance Program - $5 billion;
• State Energy Program - $3.1 billion;
• Advanced Battery Manufacturing Grants - $2 billion;
• Alternative-Fueled Vehicles Pilot Grants - $300 million;
• Transportation Electrification - $400 million; and,
• Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate and Energy Star Program - $300 million.

The bill also extends the renewable electricity production income-tax credit by three years for qualified facilities.

Fossil energy projects are slated to receive $3.4 billion in funding for R&D activities. This funding includes:

• Carbon Capture and Energy Efficiency Competitive Grants - $1.52 billion;
• Fossil Energy R&D - $1 billion;
• Clean Coal Power Initiative - $800 million;
• Site Characterization in Geologic Formations - $20 million; and,
• Program Direction - $10 million.

The DoE science and research offices will receive $2 billion under the stimulus plan. The DoE Office of Science gets $1.6 billion of this allocation, while the Advanced Energy Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) receives $400 million.

A new loan program, the Innovative Technology Guarantee Program, will provide loan guarantees through DoE to support the development of renewable energy and transmission technologies. ARRA includes $6 billion for DoE to cover the cost of these guaranteed loans. The bill reserves $10 million of this amount for the existing Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program. All projects that receive support through this program must begin construction by September 30, 2011. DoE expects to guarantee more than $60 billion in loans to renewable energy projects.

The act directs DoE to conduct a review of the nation's electrical grid to determine if significant potential sources of renewable energy are locked out of the electrical market by a lack of adequate transmission capacity. In order to update the grid in light of this review, the Western Area Power Administration will receive $10 million, along with $3.25 billion in borrowing authority to fund improvements.

Additionally, funds will be distributed amongst a number of DoE programs, including:

• Defense Environmental Cleanup - $5.127 billion;
• Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup - $483 million;
• Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund - $483 million; and,
• Office of the Inspector General - $15 million.

Department of Defense

ARRA also provides $300 million to the Department of Defense to assist with the development of energy efficiency technology. Each of the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDTE) offices within the Army, Navy and Air Force will receive $75 million, with another $75 million allotted for the Defense-wide RDTE office. These funds will provide financial support for pilot projects, demonstrations and energy efficient manufacturing enhancements.

ARRA will provide $7.2 billion to upgrade the country’s broadband infrastructure through the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

NTIA will receive $4.7 billion, in partnership with the FCC, to establish a broadband service development and expansion program. The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program will support broadband improvements by awarding competitive grants to accelerate deployment and improve service at strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or produce other public benefits. Of this funding, $350 million will support the State Broadband Data and Development Grant program, which will help develop and maintain a national broadband inventory map. 

Another $200 million of the NTIA funding will be used for competitive grants to expand the capacity of public computing centers and $250 million will fund competitive grants for innovative programs to encourage sustainable broadband adoption.

The Department of Agriculture is slated to receive $2.5 billion for its distance learning, telemedicine and broadband program. USDA Rural Development provides several varieties of loans, including a Broadband Access Loan to cover the costs of construction, improvement and acquisition of facilities. Other loans within this program extend electronic resources to rural schools, improve rural health care and provide financial assistance to broadband providers who extend service to unserved communities.

ARRA includes $19 billion in funding to promote the development and implementation of interoperable Health Information Technology (HIT). The $2 billion in discretionary funds and $17 billion in investments and incentives through Medicare and Medicaid will be used to improve the quality of medical care in the U.S. and create jobs in the information technology sector. The effort will be overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT).

To promote interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHR), the bill requires federal agencies that use HIT systems to meet federal standards. Any health care payers or providers that contract with the federal government will also have to meet these standards. DHHS will be required to report within two years and then annually on the status of EHR adoption.

The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) will work with ONCHIT to design the standards that must be met by HIT systems. NIST will award competitive grants to universities to establish multidisciplinary Centers for Health Care Enterprise Integration to generate innovative approaches to create a fully interoperable EHR network.

Several new grant and loan programs will provide incentives for the use of HIT. Funding will be made available through many DHHS agencies to build HIT architecture, EHR usage among non-Medicare/Medicaid providers, HIT training and education, telemedicine, interoperable clinical data repositories, privacy technology and best practices and HIT use at public health departments. The department will also spend $300 million to support regional health information exchanges.  Other incentive programs will support:

• creation of HIT Regional Extension Centers,
• competitive grants to states and tribes to create loan programs supporting EHR adoption,
• grants to integrate HIT into medical education, and
• financial assistance to universities to create medical informatics programs.

The major federal R&D funding agencies all received significant funding through ARRA, including:

Department of Health and Human Services

A total of $10 billion will be provided to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will be distributed among the following entities:

• The Office of the Director of the NIH will receive $8.2 billion. Of that amount, $7.4 billion will go to support general scientific research at the various institutes and centers within the NIH, and the remaining $800 million will be chosen at the discretion of the NIH Director for short-term grants that can be completed within two years. These allocations to the NIH are not subject to SBIR/STTR set-aside requirements.
• The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) will receive $1.3 billion. Competitive awards to build or renovate non-federal research facilities will receive $1 billion while the remaining $300 million will be used to purchase share instrumentation and other capital research equipment.
• $500 million will be directed for construction and improvement projects at federal NIH buildings and facilities.

An allocation of $1.1 billion will go towards comparative effectiveness research, to examine the clinical outcomes, effectiveness, risk and benefits of two or more medical treatments for a particular condition. The funding will be divided in the following manner, according to the conference report: $300 million to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), $400 million to the offices of the director of the NIH, and $400 million to be used at the discretion of the secretary of HHS.

NASA

NASA will receive $1 billion through ARRA with $400 million targeted for earth science climate research missions and improving NASA’s supercomputing capabilities; $150 million for activities related to aviation safety, environmental impact mitigation and the NextGen Air Transportation System; $400 million for exploration activities; and, $50 million for cross-agency support, with the priority of spending for NASA-owned facilities damaged in 2008 by hurricanes and natural disasters.

National Science Foundation

Funding in the bill for the National Science Foundation (NSF) is set for $3 billion. The breakout for the agency, whose entire budget was $6.065 billion in FY08, is distributed in the following manner:

• $2.5 billion for research and related activities. Of that amount, $300 million is for the major research instrumentation program and $200 million is for the modernization of academic facilities. In the conference report, advancing supercomputing is mentioned as a priority.
• $400 million is for major research equipment and facilities construction.
• $100 million for education and human resources with $60 million going to the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, $25 million for math and science partnerships, and $15 million for professional science master’s programs.

National Institute of Standards and Technology

The bill provides $580 million to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Of that, $220 million is for scientific and technical research and services and $360 million for construction of research facilities, of which $180 million is for a competitive construction grant program for research science buildings.

In addition, as part of the Health Information Technology initiative, $20 million is transferred from HHS to NIST to create and test standards related to health security and interoperability. As part of the Smart Grid initiative, $10 million will be transferred from DOE to NIST.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAA receives $830 million from ARRA, which includes $230 million for NOAA operations, research, and facilities and $600 million for construction and repair of NOAA facilities, ships and equipment. Of the $600 million, $170 million will “address critical gaps in climate modeling and establish climate data records for continuing research into the cause, effects and ways to mitigate climate change,” according to the conference report.

In addition to providing Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to both firms and workers, the stimulus extends the TAA concept for the first time to include funding for communities. A community can receive funding if designated by the secretary of Commerce as “affected by trade.” In all, $517.5 million is authorized in the bill for the components of the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Communities provision, which distributes $230 million in FY09, $230 million in FY10, and $57.5 million in the three-month period from October 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010.

For each of the three fiscal periods, the funds for communities are distributed into three distinct programs. For FY09, the money is allocated in the following manner:

• $150 million for the secretary of Commerce to use for discretionary grants. Of these funds, $25 million is targeted to assist designated communities with the development of strategic plans. In conjunction with their strategic plan, eligible communities may receive a grant up to $5 million to implement a project. The federal share of the project may not exceed 95 percent of the project’s total cost and priority will be given to small and mid-sized communities.
• For education institutions, $40 million for the secretary of Labor to use for Community College and Career Training grants. Eligible institutions cannot be awarded more than one grant, and the grant cannot exceed $1 million.
• For public/private partnerships, $40 million for the secretary of Labor to use for Sector Partnership grants to improve skill needs in a community looking to build a targeted industry. The partnerships can be awarded one grant, up to an amount of $3 million, or up to $2.5 million if the community is also receiving a Community College and Career Training grant.

The authorized amounts are the same for FY10, and subsequently prorated for the condensed three-month period in FY11.

Department of Treasury

ARRA includes $100 million in new funding for the Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund program. The program provides financial assistance to locally-based organizations engaged in building regional economies, increasing the availability of affordable housing or offering basic banking services in underserved communities. Treasury uses a number of programs to carry out this mission, including the Bank Enterprise Award program, the CDFI program, New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs), Native American CDFI Assistance and certification programs for CDFI’s and community development entities (CDEs).

In addition to the new funding, ARRA also increases the maximum amount of qualified equity investments to be made through the NMTC program by $1.5 billion in both calendars years 2008 and 2009. The 2008 funding is reserved for qualified CDEs that submitted an application in 2008, but did not receive an allocation.

Another $8 million has been reserved for financial assistance, technical assistance, training and outreach programs for Native American, Native Hawaiian and Alaskan Native communities.

 A Senate amendment to the bill expands the definition of private business manufacturing facilities to make Industrial Development Bonds (IDBs) available to facilities that create intangible properties. This change, advocated by the Council of Development Finance Agencies, will enable businesses that produce new technologies to receive IDBs.

Small Business Administration

The Small Business Administration (SBA) will receive $730 million in funding for operations and programs through ARRA. The majority of this allocation, $636 million, will fund the Business Loans Program for direct loans and fee reductions. SBA’s Microloan program will receive $6 million of this funding to provide small direct loans to new businesses. The remaining $630 million will be used to implement fee reductions on the 7(a) Loan Guarantee program and the 504 Loan program and extend SBA’s loan guarantee authorities.

Other provisions allow SBA to provide loans on a deferred basis to viable small business that have a qualified loan and are experiencing immediate financial hardship and create a SBA Secondary Market Guarantee Authority to guarantee pools of first lien 504 loans that are to be sold to third-party investors.

Department of Labor

The Department of Labor will receive $750 million for a program to provide competitive grants for worker training and placement in high growth and emerging industries. Of this amount, $500 million is directed for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy. Training for health care careers is specified in the bill to be the main priority of the remaining $250 million in this program, but the conference report indicates training for wireless and broadband deployment, advanced manufacturing, and other high-demand industry sectors may be included.

ARRA contains a number of provisions to provide fiscal relief to the states at a time of record deficits. Most attention has focused on the $53.6 billion provided through the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, but the act also contains other provisions to assist the states.

The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund directs $53.6 billion to the states through the U.S. Department of Education. The Fund holds back $5 billion for the secretary of Education for State Incentive Grants and an Innovation Fund. The Incentive Grants are to states that have met certain education provisions (e.g., achieving equity in teacher distribution). The $650 million Innovation Fund will be used for awards to recognize school districts or partnerships between nonprofit organizations and state education agencies, school districts or one or more schools that have made achievement gains.

The remaining $48.6 billion is allocated to the states with 61 percent based on the size of the population ages 5 through 24 and 39 percent based on total population. For the amount that each state receives, 81.8 percent is directed to support elementary, secondary and higher education. The remaining 18.2 percent can be used for public safety and other government services.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has prepared a projection of the state-by-state allocation from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, which is available at: http://www.cbpp.org/1-22-09bud-sfsf.pdf

In addition to the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, significant dollars will flow to the states to take some of the pressure off the burgeoning state deficits. Several provisions in the stimulus bill focus explicitly on reducing the burden of states’ Medicare and Medicaid obligations. These include increasing the rate of direct federal assistance (tied to changes in state unemployment rates) for Medicaid, additional funds to supplement hospitals treating low-income patients, a moratorium on a collection of Medicaid regulations enacted during the previous session of Congress, and extending the time period of transitional medical coverage for those with reduced Medicaid eligibility, among others.

The Department of Transportation will distribute a large amount of funds throughout the country, with $1.1 billion for improving airport safety and capacity with an additional $200 million for airport facilities and equipment, $27.5 billion for highway infrastructure, $8 billion for high-speed rail, $6.9 billion for public transit, $1.3 billion for Amtrak, $100 million for shipyards and another $1.5 billion in grants across all modes of surface transportation.

Under the Department of Housing and Urban Development, communities will see $2 billion in neighborhood stabilization funds to deal with foreclosed and vacant properties and $1 billion in Community Development Block Grants. To improve housing, $4 billion will go towards rehabilitating and retrofitting public housing, $2.25 billion for section 8 homes, $510 million for improving the energy efficiency of structures maintained by Native American housing programs, and $100 million will be steered to local governments to remove lead-based hazards. Finally, $1.5 billion will be distributed to assist homeless families and $2.25 billion will be dedicated for low-income housing tax credits.