Recovery Act Protections Important to Texas: Congress Should Extend ARRA Provisions
Author:
Eva DeLuna Castro /(512) 320-0222 x 103
July 2, 2010
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has been critically important in protecting the Texas economy and helping families and communities recover from the recession. For example, in the first quarter of 2010, ARRA programs helped Texas gain an estimated 79,000 jobs; without ARRA, Texas would have lost 126,000 jobs.
Recent estimates indicate as of June 2010, Texas households have received more than $10.6 billion in benefits from nine key provisions of ARRA: the Making Work Pay, Earned Income, and Child tax credit provisions; Economic Recovery payments; and temporary expansions of Unemployment Insurance, Food Stamp, and COBRA health insurance assistance. These benefits are in addition to other spending and tax credits designed to preserve state and local government services and private-sector jobs. Some ARRA provisions have expired or have begun to phase out. Congress must extend these important protections. This policy page provides additional information on how ARRA payments to individuals are helping local Texas communities recover from the economic recession.