The measure also provides $4.5 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers for "environmental restoration, flood protection, hydropower, and navigation infrastructure critical to the economy"; $3.1 billion for infrastructure projects on federal lands; and $1.5 billion to make low-income housing using green technologies.
To get an idea of the scale of some of these plans, the House bill includes $6 billion to help states fund clean water projects - almost 10 times what the program got last year. Even so, the bill has drawn criticism that it doesn't provide enough.
"Unfortunately, rather than focusing on job-creating measures like infrastructure and tax cuts - like I think should be in there - the Democrats have put forth legislation with billions in unwarranted and unrelated spending," says Rep. J. Gresham Barrett, a South Carolina Republican.
Health care
The stimulus package offers the most direct benefits to Americans who have lost their jobs and their health insurance in the downturn, and to those already receiving public assistance.
Roughly 3.5 million Americans who lose their jobs would be able to receive unemployment benefits for 59 weeks, instead of 26 weeks. And 20 million people would see a $25-a-week increase in their aid checks; the average weekly benefit is now $200.
The government would also provide $7.5 billion more to help states assist unemployed workers who otherwise might not have qualified for aid because they earned too little or only worked part time before losing their jobs. Democrats estimate that could help up to 650,000 workers.
The bill would provide an extra month's check - about $450 - for 7.5 million poor and elderly disabled people who rely on Supplemental Security Income. Couples would get $630 more. An estimated 8.5 million Americans would get help keeping health insurance after losing their jobs.
Energy
Nearly $100 billion in spending and tax breaks seeks to encourage use of "greener" energy and less consumption overall.
Almost a third is tagged for efficiency measures, including about $10 billion to weatherize and retrofit houses to cut electricity bills for low-income Americans, almost $8 billion to reduce energy consumption in federal and military buildings, and $7 billion in efficiency grants for states to dole out.
There's $1 billion in low-income energy assistance and hundreds of millions to buy electric and hybrid cars for government fleets and to encourage the purchase of high-efficiency home appliances.
Longer term, the plan includes $11 billion for the so-called "smart grid" - technology that helps consumers reduce their electric bills and the demands on their local power supply, by encouraging them to use less energy during peak hours. An additional $8 billion would help fund construction of thousands of miles of new electric lines, which could make more renewable energy - from wind or solar farms, for example - available to more of the country.
