LANSING – Preliminary indications of what U. S. House Democrats propose in an $825 billion economic stimulus bill were encouraging, but officials in the Granholm administration wanted to see full details of the bill before they could say what the benefit to Michigan could be.

They also cautioned that the measure that was released from the U.S. House Appropriations Committee is a first step in the process before a bill becomes law.

As now expected, the U.S. Senate will vote first on a stimulus bill with the U.S. House to follow with a vote officials hope by February 13. That date would follow by a few days when Ms. Granholm is to release her 2009-10 budget to the Legislature.

Officials are hopeful the federal bill will help keep the state’s budget in balance. Even so, Granholm and administration officials have said repeatedly that there will be significant cuts in the budget.

At the Revenue Estimating Conference last week the official revenue forecast included a general fund deficit of an estimate $1.4 billion in the 2009-10 budget if current expenditures were duplicated in that budget.

Budget Office spokesperson Leslee Fritz said the reports of what the federal bill would offer seemed positive for the state.

But state officials still had not a chance to review the 258-page proposed bill for details of how the measure could actually affect the state, Fritz said. Without that review it was impossible to say what the bill could mean for the budget, or for spending on infrastructure projects.

A team of five workgroups in the administration is working on proposals to prepare to put the infrastructure funds to work once they are received under a stimulus plan.

U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak) said the measure could provide a major boost to Michigan’s economy. He specifically singled out provisions in the bill to help the manufacturing industry in Michigan and nationwide, and also said provisions for public infrastructure spending would help revitalize communities across the state.

President-elect Barack Obama had called for a stimulus bill in the range of $775 billion, which includes tax breaks for individuals, infrastructure spending and funds to the states for programs like education and Medicaid assistance. Advisors to Mr. Obama have said they hope the stimulus bill could preserve and create as many as 4 million jobs.

U.S. Senate Democrats have indicated their bill could top $850 billion.

The proposed U.S. House bill would allocate $275 billion in tax breaks for individuals and corporations. The proposal would allow tax cuts of $1,000 for couples making $150,000 or less a year.

The proposed bill would also spend an estimated $550 billion on a variety of projects and policy areas.

In the report that accompanied the bill from the U.S. House committee, House members warned without the stimulus unemployment rates could hit double-digit figures and the current economic slowdown would grow markedly worse.

“The economy is in such trouble that, even with passage of this bill, unemployment rates are expected to rise to between 8 and 9 percent this year. Without this bill, we are warned that unemployment could explode to near 12 percent. With passage of this bill, we will face a large deficit for years to come. Without it, those deficits will be devastating and we face the risk of economic chaos. Tough choices have been made in this legislation and fiscal discipline will demand more tough choices in years to come,” the report said.

“The short-term task is to try to prevent the loss of millions of jobs and get our economy moving. The long-term task is to make the needed investments that restore the ability of average middle income families to increase their income and build a decent future for their children,” the report said.

Spending areas the bill outlines that could prove beneficial to the state include $2 billion for research and development of advanced battery technology for vehicles (the state has had two major announcements in the last two weeks about advanced battery development and Ms. Granholm signed a bill on Wednesday granting tax breaks for battery research and development); $600 million to replace older vehicles in the federal fleet with alternative fuel vehicles (and most those vehicles purchased will be U.S.-manufactured cars); $200 million for development of electric vehicles; $30 billion nationwide in road and bridge construction and repair; $20 billion nationwide in school construction; $6 billion to expand development of wireless and broadband connections in rural areas; and $4 billion in worker training grants.

In addition the bill would allocate an estimated $27 billion to extend unemployment benefits for 33 weeks, essentially through the end of 2009, and another $9 billion to boost the average benefit by $25 a week.

Economists have said that when a stimulus bill is approved it could boost the U.S. budget deficit to more than $1 trillion annually. Once the economy does begin to recover, the economists said federal taxes will have to be raised to help bring the deficit back under control.

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