Billions Cut From Green Building Stimulus

Among the cuts in a compromise economic stimulus package reached by Senate negotiators was $2 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings, aides say.

A coalition of Democrats and some Republican U.S. senators reached a compromise Feb. 6 that called for cutting billions in spending from an earlier version of the $800 billion-plus economic recovery package.

CNN reported the list of items cut that it received from a Democratic leadership aide showed the federal "green building" program was to have been $7 billion but was pared to $5 billion. Also cut was $300 million of $600 million for a federal fleet of hybrid vehicles; $200 million of $600 million for the federal Superfund pollution clean-up program; and a complete elimination of $122 million for new U.S. Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters.

Also on the cut list was $100 million of $427 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; $100 million of $400 million for FBI construction; and $75 million of $150 million for the Smithsonian Institution, CNN reported.