[LINK] Obama's stimulus bill

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Stimulus Bill Bears Imprint of Technology 

By CHARLIE SAVAGE and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
February 9, 2009 www.nytimes.com (snipped)


What oil was to President Bush, some say, clean energy and technology are 
to the Obama White House. 

“We have a president who gets it,” said Dean Garfield, the president of 
the Information Technology Industry Council, which recently identified 
the Senate initiatives in a short list of its top priorities..

Mr. Obama’s advisers say that the administration was only following 
through on the public promises he made in a campaign that began with a 
call two years ago to curb America’s dependence on foreign oil and extend 
broadband access “through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all 
across America.” 

And they emphasized that Mr. Obama had taken unusual steps to disclose 
what those firms were saying, like posting any proposals submitted to the 
transition on its Web site, in contrast to the Bush administration’s 
fight to keep secret how fossil fuel company executives shaped its energy 
policy in 2001.

“Whatever they shared, we put out there so the public could see it,” said 
John Podesta, president of the liberal Center for American Progress and 
co-chairman of the transition.

(Obama's) promises about a “smart grid” and universal broadband 
dovetailed with the dreams of many in the technology industry, as well as 
allied fields like renewable energy and electric power.

Drawing on renewable energy sources, like wind turbines and solar panels, 
would be easier with a smart grid that could handle inconsistent 
electricity production. 

More energy would lower the cost of running giant computer servers, and 
because such a grid can send signals in both directions, it would also 
allow variable pricing for peak hours and could potentially expand the 
Internet network, as would extending other forms of broadband lines to 
rural and underserved areas. And moving health records online would open 
new markets for digital connections, data storage and consumer services.

“They all converge,” said Christopher G. Caine, vice president for 
governmental programs at I.B.M., which is in both the smart grid and 
health care data businesses. At the transition’s request, I.B.M. prepared 
a research report concluding that $30 billion in spending this year on 
the smart grid, broadband access and digitized health records would 
create approximately 949,000 jobs.

Obama advisers including Mr. Furman, Julius Genachowski and Austan 
Goolsbee began soliciting input from the high-tech and alternative energy 
interests, including General Motors, I.B.M., Google, the Information 
Technology Industry Council and the electric utilities’ Edison Institute.

By October, “there was a query that said ‘if you had money to spend on 
broadband as part of this stimulus, what would you propose?’ ” said 
Debbie Goldman, a lobbyist for the Communications Workers of America, 
which has pushed for greater government spending on broadband. 

After the election, the campaign’s policy teams went through their agenda 
and selected those items that could have a quick start and natural end 
date to identify candidates for a jobs bill.

“Synergies between our short-term goals and our long-term goals,” David 
Axelrod, a top adviser to Mr. Obama, said in an interview, “that was the 
sweet spot.”

The transition also sought expert advice, holding conference calls and 
meetings at its temporary headquarters in Washington with a parade of 
industry lobbyists and executives from high-tech and clean energy 
companies from mid-November to early December. 

On Dec. 2 for example, Ms. Goldman of the communications workers union 
made a presentation promoting the jobs that would be created by broadband 
spending. On the same day, representatives of all the renewable energy 
trade groups sat around a table making pitches to Carol M. Browner, who 
is now Mr. Obama’s energy policy chief. 

“It was nice they were having us all in so early,” said Karl Gawell of 
the Geothermal Industry Association, whose members would benefit from 
$400 million in grants in the House version of the stimulus bill.

The process reached a climax when members of the economic team flew to 
Chicago for a Dec. 16 meeting with Mr. Obama. The team laid out the 
structure of the plan — increased spending on infrastructure, education, 
energy and health care, along with tax cuts, financial aid to states and 
unemployment and food stamp benefits. 

While much of the presentation involved broad themes, Mr. Furman said it 
put special focus on “a number of high-priority flagship details” like 
the renewable energy and high-tech components. Mr. Obama signed off on 
the initial outline, after making a few adjustments.

“The president-elect was particularly interested in the energy component 
of the plan and pushed for a more robust effort on the smart grid,” Mr. 
Furman recalled..

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