Frequently Asked Questions

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

• What is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)?
• Where can I find the full text of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009?
• What is a fiscal year (FY)?
• Is Recovery.gov accessible for people for with disabilities?
• What type of programs will this recovery package fund?

Question: What is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA?)

Answer: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is President Obama's sweeping economic recovery plan designed to jump start our economy, create jobs, and help Americans struggling to provide for their families. The federal economic recovery plan represents the most ambitious effort to stimulate the economy in our nation's history.

• Nationally, the recovery package will:
• Create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years;
• Direct nearly 40 percent of recovery package dollars for relief to working and middle class families, including a Making Work Pay tax credit for 95% of workers and their families, expanded and extended unemployment insurance, and payments to Social Security beneficiaries and veterans;
• Double renewable energy generating capacity over three years -- stimulating a new energy economy, saving consumers money, and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels;
• Invest $150 billion in our nation's infrastructure - the largest investment since the interstate highway system in the 1950s - including $17 billion invested in public transit and high speed rail, upgrades for the nation's electricity grid, and $7 billion to expand broadband coverage throughout the nation;
• Protect health care coverage for roughly 20 million Americans, with $87 billion in for a temporary increase the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage so budget shortfalls will not force states to cut eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP;
• Enact the most significant expansion in tax cuts for low- and moderate-income households ever, lifting more than 2 million people out of poverty.

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Question: Where can I find the full text of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009?

Answer: The text of the law can be found in PDF format here.

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Question: What is a fiscal year (FY)?

Answer: For accounting purposes, the Federal government uses a defined 12-month period as a financial or fiscal year. The Federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30 of the following calendar year. For instance, Fiscal Year 2009 is 10/1/2008 - 9/30/2009.

The State of Oklahoma also uses a 12 month fiscal year beginning July 1 and ending June 30 the following calendar year.

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Question: Is Recovery.gov accessible for people for with disabilities?

Answer: The federal Web site, Recovery.gov, and the Oklahoma Recovery site comply with all of the automatic checkpoints of the Section 508 Accessibility Guidelines, and have been manually verified for nearly all of the manual checkpoints. We plan to continue to upgrade Oklahoma Recovery accessibility for individuals with disabilities in forthcoming updates.

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Question: What type of programs will this recovery package fund?

Answer: The Recovery Act specifies appropriations for a wide range of Federal programs and will increase or extend certain benefits payable under the Medicaid, unemployment compensation, and nutrition assistance programs. The legislation also reduces individual and corporate income tax collections and makes a variety of other changes to tax laws. The package provides funds that will:

• Create a framework for clean, efficient, American energy;
• Transform our economy with science and technology;
• Modernize roads, bridges, transit and waterways;
• Overhaul education for the 21st Century;
• Dispense tax cuts to make work pay and create jobs;
• Expand access to healthcare and lower costs;
• Provide assistance to workers hurt by the economy; and
• Save public sector jobs and protect vital services.

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