Obama’s signature initiatives won major funding in the compromise stimulus package Congress passed Friday. Obama proposals mostly intact in bill

Most of President Obama’s signature initiatives won major funding in the compromise stimulus package Congress passed Friday, further tying the legislation to the president in a way that could benefit him if the economy recovers — and hurt him if it doesn’t.

In a compromise hammered out between House and Senate negotiators, some of Obama’s proposals did take a haircut, but mostly a trim.


The “Making Work Pay” tax cut, a central plank of Obama’s campaign platform, was scaled back by about 20 percent. Obama saw his proposals for tax rollbacks of $500 per individual and $1000 per couple slimmed down to $400 and $800 respectively in the final version.

In a visit to the Energy Department last week, Obama touted his plan to convert the federal fleet to hybrid vehicles.

“It will not only save the government significant money over time, it will not only create manufacturing jobs for folks who are making these cars, it will set a standard for private industry to match,” he said. The president was indignant towards Republicans who portrayed the program as pork. “Are these folks serious? Is it any wonder that we haven't had a real energy policy in this country?”

In the end, the $600 million the House set aside for the project was halved to $300 million, as the Senate proposed. But that loss was more the exception than the rule.

“In my mind, Obama basically didn’t have to compromise at all. The only substantial tax cut in it is an Obama tax cut. It isn’t even a Republican tax cut,” Chris Edwards, a budget analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute said. Asked about the changes Senate moderates insisted on, many of which were watered down in the conference, Edwards, said, “I think that’s small-potatoes type of stuff.”

Asked if the final bill has Obama’s imprint on it, Will Straw of the liberal Center for American Progress said, “Absolutely, it’s in his visions….Its all there in rough proportions.”

Straw said the Senate didn’t manage to make major changes to the House plan, which was closest to Obama’s plan. “The original House plan had a third of the cost in tax measures. The conference plan is 35 percent tax measures, in that ball park,” Straw said.

Still, some advocates for programs Obama has touted were bitter over with the final results. Advocates for classroom technology were disturbed that the $1 billion set aside for that purpose in both the House and Senate bills was slashed by more than a third in the final legislation.

“This essentially takes the investment in leadership for change in classrooms below even a reasonable down payment on leadership for change,” said Don Knezek of the International Society for Technology in Education. “$650 million is sufficient to establish digital age learning environments in fewer than 8 percent of the… high economic need classrooms in this country,” he said.

Here’s a list of items frequently touted by Obama and how they fared in the recent negotiations:

Hybrid Vehicles for Federal Fleet

House: $600 Million

Senate: $300 Million

Final: $300 Million

Computerizing Medical Records

House: $20 Billion

Senate: $19 Billion

Final: $19 Billion

Rural and underserved Broadband

House: $6 Billion

Senate: $7 Billion

Final: $7.2 Billion

School Construction Modernization

House: $21 Billion

Senate: Zero

Conference: Folded into $44.5 Billion in aid primarily to prevent teacher layoffs

High performance green federal buildings

House: $6 Billion

Senate: $2.5 Billion (some may have been reallocated)

Final: $4.5 Billion

Head Start/Early Start Expansion

House $2.1 billion

Senate: $1 billion

Final: $2.1 billion

Neighborhood Stabilization: buying up foreclosed homes in distressed areas

House:$4.2 billion

Senate: Zero

Final: $2 billion

Education technology

House: $1 billion

Senate: $1 billion

Final: $650 Million