President Obama Signs American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into Law

On February 17, President Barack Obama signed into law the $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. On February 13, after a relatively short Conference Committee, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate cleared the bill for the President’s signature. The bill provides investments in infrastructure, health, education and energy, as well as more than $280 billion in tax cuts. The legislation also contains no earmarks and establishes oversight and accountability mechanisms. The following is an overview of several key funding highlights included in the bill:

Transportation

Transportation - $1.5 billion for an intermodal discretionary grant program
Highways -$27.5 billion
Transit - $8.4 billion
Rail - $9.3 billion (including $1.3 billion for Amtrak)
Airports - $1.1 billion for the Airport Improvement Program

Environment and Water

$4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
$2 billion for the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund
$4.6 billion for US Army Corps of Engineers Water Resources Projects
$1 billion for US Bureau of Reclamation Rural Water Projects
$1.38 billion for Rural Water & Waste Disposal Program
$6 billion for Superfund
$1 billion for Brownfields
$3.2 billion for Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant Program
$3 billion for Diesel Emission Reduction Act Grants