Once the crisis has passed, we must make sure that we continue investing in America to provide the services we need in good times and bad. Investing in public services leads to economic growth. According to Moody’s Economy.com chief economist Mark Zandi, every dollar invested in public services yields $1.38 in economic growth.
After Congress passes the budget, it begins the appropriations process, which is the process of determining how much of the budget goes to each of the federal departments and the services they provide. Not surprisingly, these services have been starved over the last eight years. Now is the time to reverse this dangerous trend.
Of particular importance is the level of investment in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes funding for the Medicaid program, unemployment services, child care and Head Start. Funding for HHS is grouped in with funding for the Department of Education and the Department of Labor in what is called the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill, or Labor-HHS for short. The Labor-HHS bill is critically important for growing the economy because the recipients of these services are more likely to spend the money they receive on goods and services.
Other appropriations bills, including those that fund transportation and housing services, are also critically important to growing the economy.
