Compiled by Tom Ichniowski

Here is a breakdown of construction-related spending in the $789-billion economic stimulus package, based on a summary released Feb. 12, about 3 p.m., by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

The committees said that the package, titled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, included $311 billion in new federal appropriations, or about 39% of the overall $789-billion measure.

ENR estimates the bill's allotment for construction-related spending at $131 billion. A more precise number cannot be determined. Why? First, some capital-spending funding in the bill can be used to purchase equipment as well as to fund construction--transit is one example.

Second, there is no amount specified in the bill for school construction, but the measure does allow local school districts to choose to finance facility modernizations--and non-construction programs--through a broad-based education set-aside in the bill's State Fiscal Stabilization program (see below).

• Public Works and Spending
• Tax Provisions, Unemployment and Other Matters
• Explanatory Statements

• Highways: $27.5 billion


• Transit: $8.4 billion


• New discretionary grant program: $1.5 billion for highways, transit, rail, seaports, other projects. U.S. Dept. of Transportation would choose which projects would be funded


• Airport Improvement Program construction grants: $1.1 billion


• Rail: $9.3 billion, including allocations for Amtrak and high-speed rail


• Port, transit, rail security: $300 million


• DHS/Transportation Security Administration, procure, install airport explosives-detection, baggage-scanning equipment, $1 billion


• Coast Guard, bridge alterations $142 million


• Coast Guard, acquisition, construction, improvements $98 million

• VA: $1.25 billion for hospital and other medical facility construction and upgrades


• DOD: $4.240 billion for "facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization," includes energy-efficiency improvements, plus repair and modernization of DOD buildings, including medical facilities.


• DOD: $2.33 billion for facilities projects, including housing, hospitals, child-care centers, other military "quality of life" projects.

• HUD Public Housing Capital Fund: $4 billion


• HUD redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes: $2 billion


• HUD energy retrofits, "green" projects in HUD-assisted housing projects: $250 million


• HUD Community Development Block Grants (housing, services, infrastructure): $1 billion


• HOME investment partnerships program $2,250


• Lead paint abatement $100

No specific line item, but $39.5 billion of the bill's $53.6-billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund would go to local school districts, and school modernization would be one of several eligible uses for that $39.5 billion.

Presumably, the decisions on how to spend the school "stabilization" allotments would be made by the states.

• Electricity grid, including "Smart Grid" activities: $11 billion


• Home weatherization assistance: $5 billion


• Energy efficiency and conservation grants: $6.3 billion


• Renewable-energy loan guarantees: $6 billion


• Carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects, $1.52 billion


• Clean Coal Power Initiative, round III $800 million

• GSA federal buildings, energy-efficiency upgrades: $4.5 billion


• Border stations, ports of entry: $300 million


• Facilities on federal and tribal lands:$3.1 billion


• Fire stations (federal grants): $210 million


• GSA new Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters, $450 million


• GSA U.S. Courthouses, other federal buildings, $300 million


• Agriculture Dept. bldgs/facilities $ 200 million


• Agriculture Dept. rural facilities $130 million (supports $1.234 billion in loans)


• NIST construction $360 million


• NOAA procurement, acquisition and construction $430 million


• NASA construction (hurricane damage repairs) $50 million


• National Science Foundation academic facilities modernization $200 million


• NSF major research equipment and facilities construction $400 million


• DHS consolidation $200 million


• DHS ports of entry $420 million


• Smithsonian facilities, $25 million


• National Institutes of Health, grants for construction, renovation of non-NIH research facilities, $1 billion


• NIH buildings and facilities (construction, renovation) $500 million


• Social Security Administration, National Computer Center replacement, $500 million


• State Dept. Capital Investment Fund, $90 million

• DOE environmental cleanup: $6 billion


• EPA Clean Water and Drinking Water funds: $6 billion


• EPA cleanup, including Superfund: $1.2 billion


• Agriculture Dept., rural water and waste disposal facilities: $1.28 billion appropriations, to support $3.8 billion in loans and grants


• Corps of Engineers civil works: $4.6 billion


• Bureau of Reclamation: $1 billion

• Security, border fencing, infrastructure, technology $100 million