ARRA Annual Report

Vice President Joe Biden sent President Barack Obama a report on the first year of implementation of the American Recovery and reinvestment Act, signed into law on February 17, 2009.

By design, the Recovery Act had three primary purposes: Rescue, Recovery and Reinvestment. The report reviews progress in each of these three areas. Almost 20 million Americans have gotten extended unemployment benefits thanks to the Act, and over 95 percent of working families have had their taxes cut. Jobs have been created thanks to tens of thousands of projects now underway nationwide. And the groundwork for the economy of the next century is being put in place as we invest in high speed rail, health technology, broadband, a smarter electrical grid, clean cars and batteries, and renewable energy. And areas such as HHS's Health IT program, DOE's smart grid or loan guarantee programs, Commerce's and USDA's broadband programs, or DOT's high speed rail program have all started or finished awarding their funds, have all started obligating their funds, and will all play a bigger role in recovery in the year ahead.