The state’s $6.5 billion share of the $819 billion federal stimulus package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday should go mostly to programs that provide relief for workers and homeowners, southern Arizona’s two House members said Wednesday.
“This is a stimulus – that means right away,” Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who represents part of Tucson, said after the House approved its version of the package mostly along party lines.
“There should be tangible results within a year,” he said.
Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who also represents part of Tucson and voted for the package, agreed the need is immediate.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs every week,” Giffords said of national job-loss figures.
“Every single week we don’t act, there will be more.”
Grijalva and Giffords cited job preservation and job creation programs, along with minimizing cuts to education, and social and health care programs as paramount.
How the stimulus funding will be handled in Arizona will be decided partly by the Legislature, where leaders of the Republican majority are finalizing a budget proposal that would impose dramatic cuts in health care, education and social programs, and state assistance to cities and counties.
The U.S. House’s stimulus package earmarks specific amounts for programs and services, but “needs more specificity” to ensure that the Legislature uses the funding as intended, Grijalva said.
“This is not discretionary money for the state to use as it wishes,” he said.
The U.S. Senate still has to act on its own stimulus package.
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BREAKDOWN
• TOTAL – $6.5 billion
• Highways and Bridges – $586.5 million
• Transit Capital – $89.8 million
• Fixed Guideway (light rail, for example) Modernization – $5 million
• Clean Water State Revolving Fund – $39.2 million
• State Fiscal Stabilization Fund – $1.3 billion
• Title I – Education – $248.2 million
• Individuals with Disabilities Act – $209.6 million
• Educational Technology State Grants – $18.7 million
• Education Modernization, Renovation, and Repair (K-12) — $277.2 million
• Education Modernization, Renovation, and Repair (Higher Education) – $113.3 million
• Pell Grants – Education – $1.1 million
• Head Start – Education – $12.1 million
• Child Care & Development Block Grant – $50.8 million
• Employment and training (adult) – $7.6 million
• Employment and training (youth) – $18 million
• Employment and training (dislocated worker) – $14.7 million
• Employment and Training (employment service) – $8 million
• Community Services Block Grant – $8.2 million
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance – $4 million
• Preventative Health and Health Services Block Grant — $3.3 million
• Increase in Food Stamps – $381 million
• Medicaid – $1.8 billion
• Supplemental Security Income – $57.6 million
• Emergency Shelter Grant Program – $22.1 million
• Byrne Justice Assistant Grant (JAG) – $59.1 million