The billions that Congress approved in 2009 and 2010 to forestall school layoffs is mostly spent.
They will call for increased spending for schools and roads, billions of dollars in fiscal relief to state and local governments to forestall more layoffs and a direct government jobs program, "especially in distressed communities facing severe unemployment".
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the money would go to school boards across the country to forestall teacher layoffs, cuts to after-school programs, increases in class sizes and, in a few cases, plans to shorten the school week from five days to four.
The $500 million in cuts, which come courtesy of the House Appropriations Committee chairman, Representative David Obey, a Democrat of Wisconsin, would help finance a $10 billion state aid package aimed at forestalling teacher layoffs.
The city aid package, legislators said, includes enough new revenue to cover $270 million for the second year of a teachers' contract and to forestall about 10,000 layoffs in city agencies.
But the package, which is expected to forestall thousands of layoffs, the closing of 40 firehouses and other drastic cuts in city services, does not include a tax on commuters, which the mayor had pushed for months as a way to avoid having city residents bear all of the tax burden.
By agreeing to the benefit changes, officials said they had persuaded the city to forestall by several months layoffs that the city has said are necessary to balance the budget.
