Update on the Stimulus Bill (as of Wednesday afternoon)

Over the past couple of weeks, details and funding levels have changed as the stimulus package made its way through Congress. But as of yesterday, the House and Senate had agreed on a somewhat scaled down package set at $798 billion. This compromise bill, however, must pass both houses before it is ready for President Obama's signature. Currently the bill is going through the House Rules Committee. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said he expects the House to have a final floor vote in the next couple of days, after which the Senate will need to complete its own vote.

Important Funding Figures:

• Provides $6.65 billion for broadband grants- a compromise between the House's $6 billion and the Senate's $7 billion.
• Provides $4 billion for broadband grants at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and $2.5 billion for similar grants at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Senate originally wanted only Commerce responsible for distributing broadband grants, but the House had originally split up funding between Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the USDA's Rural Utility Service.
• Provides $3 billion for the National Science Foundation for basic research in science and engineering.
• Provides $580 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), including funding for the Technology Innovation and Manufacturing Extension Partnership programs.

Policy Changes:

• Negotiators dropped the House version's network neutrality regulations and opted for the Senate's more "benign" language.
• The compromise bill does not contain the Senate's tax credits for telecommunications providers. The credits would have assisted carriers, who extended their high speed Internet systems into rural America. Some said the Senate language would have unfairly rewarded large players like Verizon. The House version did not contain any tax credits for broadband deployment.
• The agreement leaves out rules that would have encouraged the deployment of faster speed Internet. The House-passed bill originally stipulated that at least 75% of the funding go toward broadband that offered a download speed of at least 45 megabits per second.