the news is telling us that the economic stimulus package is expected to receive final approval and head to obama’s desk. few of the news reports have any detail as to what’s actually in the bill, so i headed over to thomas to find out.

what struck me immediately was not so much what’s in it, but what’s been removed from it. (assuming i’m reading the strikes and italics correctly.)

for example:

the entirety of the transparency and oversight requirements. there had been requirements for a whole host of stimulus-package information to be published on the recovery.gov website. information like:

• Each Federal agency shall publish (1) a plan for using funds made available in this Act to the agency; and (2) all announcements for grant competitions, allocations of formula grants, and awards of competitive grants using those funds.
• detailed data on contracts awarded by the Government for purposes of carrying out this Act, including information about the competitiveness of the contracting process, notification of solicitations for contracts to be awarded, and information about the process that was used for the award of contracts.
• printable reports on funds made available in this Act obligated by month to each State and congressional district
• links to and information on how to access job opportunities created at or by entities receiving funding under this Act, including, if possible, links to or information about local employment agencies; state, local and other public agencies receiving funding; and private firms contracted to perform work funded by this Act.

heaven forbid the public is advised of how the money is actually spent, or where it is actually going. i suspect that would just be too dangerous for the congresscritters who are constantly running for re-election, or for the ones who oppose the package, and yet stand to profit tremendously from it (politically).

so that’s a glimpse at what was cut. but what’s still in the bill?

on the health care side, there seems to be more than a billion dollars earmarked for clinical effectiveness research, presumably to guide future government involvement in attempts to reduce health care costs (or perhaps as a precursor to universal coverage); the current language sets out:

the funding appropriated in this paragraph shall be used to accelerate the development and dissemination of research assessing the comparative clinical effectiveness of health care treatments and strategies, including through efforts that: (1) conduct, support, or synthesize research that compares the clinical outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of items, services, and procedures that are used to prevent, diagnose, or treat diseases, disorders, and other health conditions and (2) encourage the development and use of clinical registries, clinical data networks, and other forms of electronic health data that can be used to generate or obtain outcomes data

there’s also $118M for “energy conservation and investment” for military construction projects – something that is sorely needed, as new buildings seem to be going up on bases (at least in this area) without any consideration for green construction or energy efficiency (the new child development center on fort myer is an egregious example of this). $336M for the construction of child development centers, across all services. $481M for warrior transition complexes. (no army funding for barracks, though. interesting.) $1.3B for VA medical facilities, and $145M for VA benefits claims processing.

as i read through this, it’s an awful lot of government spending. i’m not sure how it’s supposed to result in jobs creation, though. food for thought.