ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)

What is ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is an economic stimulus bill created to help the United States economy recover from an economic downturn that began in late 2007. Congress enacted ARRA February 17, 2009.

ARRA allocates $787 billion to fund tax cuts and supplements to social welfare programs as well as increased spending for education, health care, infrastructure and the energy sector.

According to ARRA's statement of purpose, it was developed to:

• To preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery.
• To assist those most impacted by the recession.
• To provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health.
• To invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits.
• To stabilize State and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases.

See also: HITECH Act, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP)

Learn More About IT:
> Wikipedia covers the history and content of ARRA in greater detail.
> Recovery.gov is the official website dedicated to information about ARRA programs, spending and progress.
> The full text of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is available online.
> Dennis D. MacDonald breaks down the sections of ARRA in his blog.