March 4, 2009

Dear Friend:

The recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan ( H.R.1 ), better known as “the stimulus bill,” is often described as a series of very large monetary figures.  But the real goal of the bill was to create jobs, jumpstart growth, and transform our economy for the new century. 

Almost everyone in America will see the change that will be created by this bill.  Let me provide some examples of what it will mean for average Californians.

• About 95 percent of all working families will qualify for the Making Work Pay tax cut.  Working families will receive between a $400 and $800 tax cut, with an estimated 12.5 million Californians eligible for this tax cut.
  
• If you have children in California schools, they may see classroom, lab or library improvements as part of the plan to modernize schools.  More than 1,200 California schools will receive modernization funding.  Other funding for schools will also help to update technology and enable disadvantaged students to excel.
  
• If you have children in college, 522,000 families in California will be eligible for the American Opportunity Tax Credit to make college more affordable.  This program creates a partially refundable tax credit for four years of college and puts higher education within reach of more Californians.  The Pell Grant for college loans will also be increased to provide more funds to pay for college.
  
• If you receive Social Security benefits, or SSI, you will likely receive a one-time payment of $250.
  
• If you become unemployed, you can receive an additional $100 per month in unemployment insurance benefits, and your benefits will be extended if you remain unemployed.  More than 2,395,000 Californians have lost their jobs in this recession and this extra money will help boost them and our economy with their added purchasing power. 
  
• If you or a family member have become unemployed and you had health insurance, you will receive assistance in continuing your employer-provided health insurance coverage for up to nine months.  The federal government will pay up to 65 percent of your health insurance premiums during this period of unemployment. 
  
• If your neighborhood has foreclosed and abandoned houses, funds are provided to help local governments buy up and improve homes and make them available to renters or future buyers. 
  
• If you are in the military, funds are provided to upgrade military medical facilities, housing, and childcare facilities.  Funds are also provided to upgrade veteran medical facilities and to make repairs at veterans facilities.
  
• If you are a first-time home buyer, you may be eligible for an $8,000 tax credit toward the purchase of a home.  And if you live in a high-cost area, you will have greater access to low-interest mortgage loans. 
  
• If you are concerned about increasing crime in these hard economic times, the bill provides federal funding to hire more police officers through the COPS program. 
  
• If you have a health problem, or even if you just regularly visit your doctor, your medical records will be computerized, enabling faster access to medical records and saving billions of dollars in health care costs.
  
• If you travel on America's roads, freeways, bridges, or transit, you are likely to see improvements, upgrades and modernization including freeway construction, modernization of infrastructure that includes energy savings, and rail and transit construction to reduce traffic and gas consumption.

These are just examples of the good programs included in this historic legislation.  And while it is just a step in a long road to economic recovery, it is a crucial one.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

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Barbara Boxer's Senate Website:

http://boxer.senate.gov/

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