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    Want to know what the latest version of the stimulus package looks like?

    Consumer Reports News: February 09, 2009 01:20 PM

    When a small group of senators announced late Friday that they had reached a compromise on the economic stimulus bill, the headlines were that an amendment from Sens. Susan Collins and Ben Nelson would cut over $100 billion from the cost of the Senate version of the bill.

    "We've trimmed the fat, fried the bacon, and milked the sacred cows," Nelson said in a statement.

    Followed by Collins saying, "These are not minor adjustments, but major changes."

    Here is some of the spending that appear to be taken out of the stimulus plan by the compromise:

    • "The largest cut is a $40 billion decrease in a $79 billion state fiscal stabilization fund, much of which would have gone to education." (CongressDaily)
    • "...cuts all $16 billion from the original bill for K-12 school construction, trims more than $1 billion from Head Start programs for youngsters ... Some $3.5 billion would be cut for work on higher education facilities as well." (Detroit Fee Press)
    • "...the senators reduced financing to expand broadband data networks in rural and underserved areas from $9 billion to $7 billion." (American-Statesman)
    • "...would hit security-related public-health programs the hardest, stripping about $870 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the agency within HHS charged with developing medical countermeasures for pandemic flu and likely bioterrorism agents." (CQ Politics)
    • "The Homeland Security Department would lose $386.5 million in stimulus funding under the cuts. Among them: $200 million for baggage-screening equipment for the Transportation Security Administration, $122.5 million for new Coast Guard icebreakers and cutters, $50 million for a new DHS headquarters, and $14 million for cybersecurity research."  (CQ Politics)

    If you want to parse the language for yourself, the Senate Appropriations Committee posted the text of the Collins Nelson Amendment on its site on Monday. (Fair warning, it's a 778-page PDF.)

    If the Senate passes the stimulus bill--which it is expected to because of the support of Republicans Collins and Sen. Arlen Specter--the House and Senate will have to go back and work out the differences between their versions. The Senate's price tag will likely be $827 billion and the House's current total was $819 billion, according to the New York Times.


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