Obama's Recovery and Reinvestment Plan 101

President Obama's Recovery and Reinvestment Plan (also known as stimulus package) has made headlines numerous times over the past few weeks. Many want to know in basic terms, what exactly is in the plan, what does this plan mean for the United States, what does it mean to individuals and families and finally what is the reasoning behind the way the plan has been structured.

"Only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe." That is what President Obama had to say about the structure of and amount of money necessary to fund this plan. The President plans to put people to work in good paying jobs. He plans to put people to work doing the things that America needs done to "build an economy that can lead this future." Jobs in technology, road work, schools and infrastructure projects are among the millions of jobs that the President is confident his plan will save or create. It does seem to make sense that if America has work to be done and Americans needs work, we should put Americans to work doing work for America. Questions of how and why each section of the plan is structured still remain.

Listed in the plan, President Obama plans to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years, modernize over 75% of the federal buildings, and improve residential energy efficiency. The reasoning behind this is to save billions on energy bills and spark creation of a clean energy economy and create jobs (well-paying jobs) that won't be at risk to outsourcing

The plan also includes investing in converting all of America's medical records to computer within five years. The objective of this is to save billions of dollars by lowering costs associated with waste, repetitive tests and red tape as well as reducing preventable medical errors, in turn, saving lives and improving health care quality

As far as education is concerned, President Obama has included plans to equip thousands of schools (including colleges and public universities) with "21^st century classrooms, labs and libraries". By providing new computers, technology and training for both teachers and students, our children will have the opportunities they need to succeed in an extremely competitive world.

The plan also includes the expansion of broadband across America. This is so that small businesses can compete with counterparts anywhere in the world.

President Obama also announced plans to invest in science, research, and technology. The mission of these plans is to advance medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and entire new industries.

By updating the way we get our electricity (building a new smart grid) we'll save money, protect our power sources from blackout or attack, and deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to America.

Providing working families a $1,000 tax cut and continuing extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage will help Americans through this economic crisis, get people spending, avoid state budget cuts in police, fire, education and health care and provide immediate relief to states, workers and families.

Sounds like a good plan, leaving some people wondering why it just hasn't been passed yet. Without a single Republican vote, the House has passed the plan and sent it on to the Senate for approval. The Senate is feeling serious pressure to pass a bill quickly from state and local officials across the country as Democrats and Republicans discuss, debate and fine tune the structure of the plan as they attempt to compromise on a package that will best benefit the United States. While there is no doubt that any plan agreed upon will be the result of serious debate and consideration, the President hopes that he will be able to sign the package into law this month.

White House Blog, The President's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." White House.

White House Website. (January 8, 2009) The Agenda - Economy. The President's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. Remarks as prepared for delivery.