Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to invoke cloture on a bill that authorizes funding for certain economic development grants and programs.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $500 million each fiscal year from 2011 through 2015 for economic development assistance programs (Sec. 19).

• Limits federal economic development and public works grants to 50 percent of project costs, except in the following circumstances (Sec. 8):
• If the grant is for an area with a 24-month unemployment rate of at least 150 percent of the national average, or if the area's per capita income is no more than 70 percent of the national average, the federal grant may cover up to 60 percent of project costs;
• If the grant is for an area with a 24-month unemployment rate of at least 175 percent of the national average, or if the area's per capita income is no more than 60 percent of the national average, the federal grant may cover up to 70 percent of project costs;
• If the grant is for an area with a 24-month unemployment rate of at least 200 percent of the national average, or if the area's per capita income is no more than 50 percent of the national average, the federal grant may cover up to 80 percent of project costs; and
• If the grant is for an area in which a major disaster or emergency has been declared in the previous 18 months, the federal grant may cover up to 100 percent of project costs.

• Establishes federal economic adjustment grants to provide assistance to communities with economies that have been impacted by a loss of information technology jobs, natural resource-based jobs, agricultural jobs, or service sector jobs (Sec. 10).

• Appropriates $5 million each fiscal year from 2011 through 2015 for federal grants to redevelop "brownfield sites" through the use of 1 or more renewable energy technologies including, but not limited to, solar, wind, and geothermal technologies (Sec. 11).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text