Supporters of the bill say it would pump money directly into Tampa Bay's economy, putting people like 55 year old Victor Bering back to work. Right now he’s making frequent visits to the Tampa Bay Workforce development office.

"At first I would just come here once a month, then I wound up coming once every two weeks and it just doesn’t seem like anything is happening"

Victor says for the past year he's been searching for jobs, but the opportunities are few and far between. "I even thought about retraining for stuff but that costs money and I don't much of," he says.

But, the stimulus bill is designed to create those opportunities in our community. Florida's share includes nearly six billion for education to build new schools and improve technology in the classroom, four billion for healthcare to expand Medicaid and provide healthcare for kids, two billion for infrastructure including completing Interstate 275 project and the I-4 connector, and nearly 900 million to temporarily expand food stamps.

"Our economy is imploding, people are losing jobs," says Representative Kathy Castor, the only Florida representative to vote in favor of the House version of the bill.

"This is targeted towards creating and maintaining jobs. The Tampa Bay area has the highest unemployment rate that it's seen in a number of years," Castor says.

Castor says the bill also include money to subsidize healthcare for the unemployed, or COBRA. Right now,  the house bill will pay up to 65 percent of the cost.

"Otherwise people will give up their health insurance and show up in the emergency room and that costs everybody," Castor says.

Victor Bering hopes something happens sooner than later.

"I'm sure I'm not the only one in this so I hope it all works and we get things going again and everyone can walk around with a smile on their face for a change," he says.