More Details Emerge on Stimulus Plan

The White House has provided a handy four page summary detailing the current stimulus proposal; it's worth a look.  Priorities include modernization and retrofitting buildings and schools nationwide to reduce energy costs, including an estimated $350 annual utilities savings for low-income households.  Another emphasis is expanding Medicaid, unemployment benefits, food stamps, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) - the last by $450 temporarily.

It's an interesting proposal, a mix of short-term fixes (e.g., enhanced Medicaid and unemployment benefits access) and long-term solutions intended to drive down costs over time - modernizing hospital IT systems, for example, in order to save on healthcare costs from reduced medical errors.  It's also grandiose in its language such that it helpfully conceals how limited its reach will be in some cases - 16M children here, 90 ports there, etc.  What is revealing about its superlative tone though is how little has been done by our government in recent years, no, decades.  That we're about to spend $825 billion on a hodge podge of investments that should pay off over time but in reality are just long overdue societal responsibilities - well, that tells us something about how much our government has failed us in my lifetime.  (Seriously, I should be impressed by school modernization?  Or the biggest highway upgrade in 50 years?  What the hell have we been spending our $$ on all this time?)

I wish I had more insight into this proposal - several of my commenters rightfully want to know what will be done about the woeful inadequacy of our current SSI and SSDI programs for disabled, childless adults.  My fellow blogger Tim has some sharp thoughts on funding and preserving Medicaid going forward, just as its subject to its latest round of government nonsense - another Bush hangover that just won't quit.

What I do give the Obama Administration credit for is trying to patch the holes in our safety net during these critical times.  As a full time graduate student who relies on sporadic, meager research funds and freelance consulting income, I'm looking at a lean year for work, and I'm not eligible for unemployment benefits, nor federal student loans.  For the first because I'm self-employed, for the latter because I earned too much in 2007. (Damn, that seems like a long time ago!)  At the new year, with the freelance work gone, my housing went from affordable to unaffordable.

I hope that extensions in food stamps, TANF contingency funds, unemployment pay, healthcare coverage (COBRA and Medicaid) help people whether the next six to twelve to eighteen months...  But if the need for this stimulus plan, and the proposal itself doesn't point to the necessity of a major, permanent strengthening of our social safety net going forward, then I don't know what does.  We've got our heat way down and blankets wrapped in this drafty old New England home.  Here's hoping this stimulus continues to improve, passes, and has some impact in the coming years.  I know we could use the help; how about you?