Guest Post: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill
Jan 16, 2009
Thanks to Suki O'Raghallaigh for offering to share this post, which she originally wrote for her own blog. We're always happy to receive guest submissions and commentary; for information on contributing to Tech Policy Central, please email us.
American Recovery and Reinvestment, the highly-anticipated stimulus bill developed by Congressional Democrats and President-elect Barack Obama, was released yesterday by the House Appropriations Committee. For months politicians, economists and business leaders have argued for and against government interference in the economy, but even critics of stimulus spending concede that investment in infrastructure is more effective than industry bailouts.
While some critics are now complaining that only a small percentage of the investment outlined in the bill is allotted to traditional infrastructure projects, others recognize that the concept of civil infrastructure has now grown to encompass technologies such as communications (including broadband and wireless technologies), renewable energy, and the electric grid.
In an op-ed article for The Wall Street Journal, IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano states that "these kinds of infrastructure have significantly greater economic and societal multiplier effects than traditional infrastructure like bridges and highways." A collective shift to this thinking is necessary for America to remain globally competitive, and many in the tech industry are looking to the new administration to further this mind-set.
High tech leaders are encouraged and excited to have technological innovation included in the plan, but remain skeptical as to how effective it will be in correcting the economic downturn. Even the chief architect of the spending portion of the plan tempered expectations with his less-than-confident comments on the bill. According to an article in The Hill, Appropriations Committee chair David Obey (D-WI) stated in a briefing that the $825 billion package "may undershoot the mark" and may not be the government's last attempt to stimulate the economy with taxpayer dollars.
Rumor has it Senate Democrats are working on their own stimulus package. Expect a lot of negotiating over the next several weeks. You can download PDFs of the full text of the bill (258 pages) or the executive summary (a mere 13 pages).
Tags:
Barack Obama, broadband, Congress, economic stimulus, economy, energy, infrastructure, smart grid
