By GottaLaff
Here are a few things you may want to know about the recovery bill:
"We trimmed the fat, fried the bacon and milked the sacred cows," Nelson said. He said the compromise includes $350 billion in tax cuts that would reach 95 percent of all Americans. [...]There you go.
Among the amendments that passed today was one sponsored by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) that would restrict the hiring of foreign workers by banks receiving federal bailout money. The provision would require banks to seek American workers when hiring instead of giving those jobs to foreigners brought in under the H-1B visa program.
Sanders said the measure, which would be in effect for two years, would ensure that banks receiving federal money "are not allowed to import cheaper labor from overseas while they are laying off American workers."[...]
Two sticking points for Republicans were funding for school construction and Head Start, both viewed as worthy programs but not ones that would provide a sufficient boost to the economy. [...]
Some items on the cutting board included $99 million in technology upgrades for the State Department's National Cyber Security Initiative, $200 million for benefits for Filipino veterans, $55 million for the Historic Preservation Fund, and $122 million for the Coast Guard to purchase new or renovated polar icebreakers.
But senators also debated whether to keep in the bill numerous big-ticket items that their colleagues had fought for. About $14 billion in Pell grant funding appeared to have survived, but some senators were targeting at least $10 billion in other education programs. Billions of dollars in energy efficiency incentives and state aid also were under review by the centrist group.
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