![]() ![]() Funded investments in smart grid technology, renewable energy, and energy efficiency programs.Created the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, which has invested billions of dollars in high-impact transportation projects around the country.Provided billions of dollars in the Recovery Act to improve nearly 42,000 miles of road, repair or replace more than 2,700 bridges, help transit agencies purchase more than 12,220 transit vehicles, upgrade or construct more than 6,000 miles of better performing rail, and increase safety and convenience with more than 360 airport and runway projects.Invested over $5 billion to lay and upgrade over 114,500 miles of fiber-optic cable, connecting community anchors around the nation to fast broadband Internet.Provided federal funding to prevent hundreds of thousands of teacher and first responder job losses.Supported continuing education for American workers by increasing available funding for incumbent workers and working with companies to upskill thousands of workers. ![]() ![]() Increased maximum Pell Grant awards by $500 in the Recovery Act later increased the maximum by more than $1,000 above the 2008 level, helping millions of students afford college.Following these reforms, the high school graduation rate reached its highest level ever recorded, dropout rates fell sharply for low-income and minority students, and since 2008, college enrollment for African-Americans and Hispanics has increased by more than one million students. Catalyzed significant state education reforms to adopt higher academic standards to prepare students for college and careers, which 49 states and the District of Columbia have done invested in great teachers and leaders and turned around low-performing schools through $4 billion in Race to the Top competition.Created the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), an up to $2,500 per-year tax credit (up to $10,000 over four years) to help students and their families pay for college later made the AOTC permanent in the 2015 tax and budget agreement.Expanded the Earned-Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families with more than two children and reduced EITC marriage penalties later made those expansions permanent in the 2015 tax and budget agreement.Expanded the Child Tax Credit for low-wage working families later made that expansion permanent in the 2015 tax and budget agreement.Cut the payroll tax for everyone who pays it, boosting the typical family’s income by about $1,000 in 20 and helping about 160 million workers and their families.Created the Making Work Pay tax credit for families with incomes of up to $150,000, providing a credit of up to $400 for individuals and $800 for couples as the economy recovered from the depths of the Recession in 20. ![]() McGee said the Bay Foundation is calling for the EPA to disapprove of Pennsylvania’s latest pollution plan, and step up its efforts to hold the bay states accountable.Tax Relief for Middle Class and Working Families “More than 90% of the remaining reductions in Pennsylvania need to come from agriculture.” “The scale of the agricultural challenge in Pennsylvania is enormous,” she said. The report found that Pennsylvania was the farthest off-track, though recent influxes of state and federal money to help reduce agricultural pollution from the state are reasons for optimism, said Beth McGee, the foundation’s director of science and agricultural policy. In Maryland, maintenance woes at Baltimore’s wastewater treatment plants, resulting in millions of pounds of excess nutrients discharged into bay tributaries, will need to be corrected to ensure technological improvements at the plants aren’t in vain, the Bay Foundation said in its report. Many of the pollution reductions so far have come as a result of equipment upgrades at wastewater treatment plants, but further reductions in agriculture and stormwater runoff will be needed to finish the job, according to the foundation. The nonprofit released its own report Wednesday about the slow progress toward the bay’s 2025 goals, particularly in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, which together account for about 90% of pollution going into the bay, according to the foundation. “Finally, we need the partnership to commit to developing a new Chesapeake Bay agreement with a specified timeline that addresses the remaining pollution reductions.” “It’s time to identify the principal reasons why,” she said. ![]()
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