White House Blog - Town Hall Time

White House Blog - Town Hall Time

Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 10:17 am

Town hall time

The President is on his way to Elkhart, Indiana, for a town hall about the economic recovery plan. He'll talk for a bit, then take questions from the audience of about 1,700 people.

Elkhart has been hit especially hard by the economic crisis. Its seen its unemployment rate more than triple over the past year -- from 4.7% in December 2007 to 15.3% this past December.

Our economic team put together some details of how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will work in Indiana, we've pasted them below. We’ll have more from the town hall later this afternoon.

AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN:
THE IMPACT FOR INDIANA

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is a nationwide effort to create jobs, jumpstart growth and transform our economy for the 21st century. Across the country, this plan will help businesses create jobs and families afford their bills while laying a foundation for future economic growth in key areas like health care, clean energy, education and a 21st century infrastructure. In Indiana, this plan will deliver immediate, tangible impacts, including:

* Creating or saving 79,300 jobs over the next two years. Jobs created will be in a range of industries from clean energy to health care, with over 90% in the private sector. [Source: White House Estimate based on Romer and Bernstein, "The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." January 9, 2009.]

* Providing a making work pay tax cut of up to $1,000 for 2,480,000 workers and their families. The plan will make a down payment on the President’s Making Work Pay tax cut for 95% of workers and their families, designed to pay out immediately into workers’ paychecks. [Source: White House Estimate based on IRS Statistics of Income]

* Making 76,000 families eligible for a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to make college affordable. By creating a new $2,500 partially refundable tax credit for four years of college, this plan will give 3.8 million families nationwide – and 76,000 families in Indiana – new assistance to put college within their reach. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census data]

* Offering an additional $100 per month in unemployment insurance benefits to 456,000 workers in Indiana who have lost their jobs in this recession, and providing extended unemployment benefits to an additional 89,000 laid-off workers. [Source: National Employment Law Project]

* Providing funding sufficient to modernize at least 176 schools in Indiana so our children have the labs, classrooms and libraries they need to compete in the 21st century economy. [Source: White House Estimate]

ends

© Scoop Media