“A recent New York Fed report shows that the spending components of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) expanded funding to states across various federal agencies and supplemented state tax revenues. In New York and New Jersey, the spending components were broadly similar to those of the nation, though the amounts allocated across agencies in the two states differed. In their study, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: A Review of Stimulus Spending in New York and New Jersey, authors James Orr and John Sporn find that the funds allocated to New York, when compared with the nation, were more concentrated in Department of Health and Human Services programs and were directed largely at expanded Medicaid expenditures. This reflected both the increase in the federal government’s share of the program’s cost and the large role played by Medicaid spending in the state’s budget. New Jersey’s allocation, meanwhile, was more concentrated in funding from the Department of Labor for extended unemployment insurance benefits. Moreover, ARRA spending supplemented revenues in both states in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, which helped them to continue their spending on a variety of services.”