The House version of President Obama's economic stimulus package passed tonight with none of the Republican votes he had hoped for. "But the White House’s bigger worry could the final negotiations between the House and Senate, where a growing urban-rural split among Democrats threatens to delay a settlement," reports David Rogers of Politico.
"This was seen most sharply Tuesday night when rural Democrats and Republicans in the Senate Finance Committee wrecked havoc with a delicately negotiated compromise between House and Senate leaders over the distribution of $87 billion in Medicaid funds in the Obama plan," Rogers writes. "The same split is infecting disputes over a $1 billion crop disaster aid program favored by the Senate and how big a role the Commerce and Agriculture Departments should play in allocating billions of new dollars sought by Obama to expand access to broadband." (Read more)
Also on the broadband front, "High-tech companies struck out with the House when they sought tax credits for spending on bringing broadband infrastructure to rural and so-called underserved areas," report Greg Hitt and Elizabeth Williamson of The Wall Street Journal. "But the firms struck pay dirt" in the Finance Committee, getting a 10 percent tax credit for investments in current broadband technology and a 20 percent investment tax credit for "next-generation" broadband, "not only in rural and underserved areas but any residential area."
The Journal reports another rural battle: "Dairy and beef cattle producers butted heads over talk that the government might buy up dairy cattle for slaughter to drive up depressed milk prices." (Read more)
In the House, there was division among Democrats, with some (mostly liberals) telling Alec MacGillis of The Washington Post that "the plan may fall short in its broader goal of transforming the American economy over the long term," and fiscal conservatives like Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., complaining to at least one network (sorry, we failed to note which) that at the beginning of the most exciting presudency in half a century, "the old bulls are doing business as usual."
Here's a selection of rural-related items in the Senate Finance Committee plan, generally in declining order of amounts:
• $40 billion to the Department of Energy for "development of clean, efficient, American energy." Also, $400 million for rural businesses initiatives including development of renewable energy.
• $39 billion to school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing formulas, plus $15 billion to states as incentive grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures. The Title I program for poor students would get $13 billion "to help close the achievement gap and enable disadvantaged students to reach their potential." Another $13 billion would increase the federal share of special-education services, and $13.9 billion would increase the maximum Pell Grant for college students and pay for increases in program costs resulting from increased grant eligibility. The bill has $16 billion to repair, renovate and construct public schools "in ways that will raise energy efficiency and provide greater access to information technology," and $3.5 billion to improve higher-education facilities.
• $25 billion to states for other high-priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.
• $27 billion for highways according to a formula, and $5.5 billion for competitive grants to state and local governments for "surface transportation investments." Also, $830 million for repair and restoration of road on park, forest, tribal, and other public lands.
• $9 billion for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to improve access to broadband.
• $4.6 billion to build, repair or rehabilitate water-resource infrastructure for navigation, hydroelectric power, flood control, environmental restoration, shore protection and other purposes.
• $3.4 billion for repair, restoration and improvement of public facilities at parks, forests, refuges and on other public and tribal lands.
For a PDF of the Senate list, via the Journal, click here.
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