House stimulus bill contains $900M for D.C.

Washington Business Journal - by Jonathan O'Connell Staff Reporter

The $800 billion spending bill aimed at economic stimulus, passed by the U.S. House Wednesday night, contains about $900 million in spending for the District, including $376 million for transportation infrastructure improvements and $148 million for public school renovations.

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., reported that the package, as it currently stands, would also provide a bevy of tax credits, including those for public housing repairs, weatherization of some homes, school construction bonds and energy efficient building improvements. “Today, we moved one step closer to remedying this baffling and painful economic crisis, the worse we have seen since the Great Depression,” Norton said in a statement.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty wrote Norton Jan. 7 with a list of priorities for stimulus spending that included school modernization, construction of a new police forensics lab, Medicaid matching funds, reconstruction of the Eleventh Street and South Capitol Street bridges, and another environmental and housing needs. D.C. faces a budget shortfall for the current fiscal year of $127 million, according to estimates by its chief financial officer.

The Senate is expected to consider the package next week.