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  Officials say stimulus bill to cost $75B more
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Contributorparticleman 
Last Editedparticleman  Jan 26, 2010 10:23pm
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AuthorANDREW TAYLOR
MediaWebsite - Yahoo News
News DateWednesday, January 27, 2010 04:20:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionLast year's $787 billion economic stimulus bill is going to be even more expensive — $75 billion more.

The new Congressional Budget Office estimate, released Tuesday, provides more ammunition for Republicans who say the stimulus has been long on spending and short on creating promised jobs. The additional cost also eats into the savings forecast from the budget freeze President Barack Obama is expected to propose Wednesday night during his State of the Union address.

Almost half of the additional cost, $34 billion, is because the food stamp program won't be able to take advantage of lower-than-expected inflation rates and will instead have benefits set by the stimulus bill.

Higher unemployment insurance costs added $21 billion to the bill, and stimulus-subsidized bonds to pay for infrastructure projects have proven more popular than expected with state and local governments.

Democrats say the beleaguered stimulus measure, a mixture of tax cuts and lots of spending, has helped keep the economy going and has produced up to 2 million jobs.

The nonpartisan CBO said five programs were responsible for most of the $112 billion in stimulus spending between last February and October: Medicaid; a $250 payment to almost 53 million Social Security recipients; Pell Grants; and fiscal relief for state governments. Tax cuts added $88 billion.

The stimulus is expected to add about $400 billion to the deficit in this budget year. Democrats are pressing for another stimulus measure and top Senate Democrats have drafted an $82.5 billion jobs plan that would help small businesses, boost spending on road construction and mass transit, and give local governments money to retain teachers.
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