Compromise bill highlights

Spending

AID TO POOR AND UNEMPLOYED: $40 billion to extend unemployment benefits through Dec. 31 and increase them by $25 a week; $20 billion to increase food stamp benefits; $4 billion for job training; $3 billion in temporary welfare payments.

DIRECT CASH PAYMENTS: $14.2 billion to give one-time $250 payments to Social Security recipients, poor people on Supplemental Security Income, and veterans receiving disability and pensions.

INFRASTRUCTURE: $48 billion for transportation projects, including $27.5 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair; $8.4 billion for mass transit; $8 billion for construction of high-speed railways; $7.2 billion to bring broadband Internet service to underserved areas; $4.2 billion to repair and modernize Defense Department facilities.

HEALTHCARE: $24.7 billion to provide a 65 percent subsidy of healthcare insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program; $86.6 billion to help states with Medicaid; $19 billion to modernize health information technology systems; $10 billion for health research and construction of National Institutes of Health facilities; $1 billion for prevention and wellness programs.

AID TO STATES: $8.8 billion in aid to states to offset budget cuts.

ENERGY: About $50 billion for energy programs, focused chiefly on efficiency and renewable energy, including $5 billion to weatherize modest-income homes; $6.4 billion to clean up nuclear weapons production sites; $11 billion toward a "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste; $6 billion to subsidize loans for renewable energy projects; $6.3 billion in state energy efficiency and clean energy grants; $4.5 billion to make federal buildings more energy efficient; $2 billion in grants for advanced batteries for electric vehicles.

EDUCATION: $44.5 billion in aid to local school districts, with flexibility to use the funds for school modernization and repair; $25.2 billion to school districts to fund special education and the No Child Left Behind law; $15.6 billion to boost the maximum Pell Grant by $500; $2 billion for Head Start.

HOUSING: $4 billion to repair and improve the energy efficiency of public housing projects; $2 billion to redevelop foreclosed and abandoned homes; $1.5 billion for homeless shelters.

SCIENCE: $3 billion for the National Science Foundation for basic science and engineering research; $1 billion for NASA; $1.6 billion for research in areas such as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, and nuclear physics.

HOMELAND SECURITY: $2.8 billion for homeland security programs, including $1 billion for airport screening equipment.

LAW ENFORCEMENT: $4 billion in grants to state and local law enforcement agencies to hire officers and purchase equipment.

Taxes

TAX CREDIT: About $116 billion for $400-per-worker, $800-per-couple tax credits in 2009 and 2010. For the last half of 2009, most workers could expect to see about $13 a week less withheld from their paychecks starting about June.

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: About $70 billion to spare about 24 million taxpayers from being hit with the alternative minimum tax in 2009.

COLLEGE TUITION: About $14 billion to provide a $2,500 expanded tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010.

CHILD TAX CREDIT: About $15 billion to provide the $1,000 child tax credit to more families that don't make enough money to pay income taxes.

EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT: $4.7 billion to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families with three or more children.

HOMEBUYER CREDIT: $6.6 billion to repeal a requirement that an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit be paid back over time for homes purchased from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, unless the home is sold within three years.

AUTO SALES: $1.7 billion to makes sales taxes on paid new cars, light trucks, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles tax-deductible through the end of the year.

RENEWABLE ENERGY INCENTIVES: About $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over 10 years.

BUSINESS TAX BREAKS: $5 billion to extend a provision allowing businesses buying equipment such as computers to speed up its depreciation through 2009.

SOURCE: Associated Press