President Barack Obama's stimulus money is about to be distributed, but will it be spent in the way it is intended? One alarming example: Mass transit. Cities and states, strapped for money, are cutting back on mass transit even as it becomes more popular with Americans. At the same time, President Obama is calling for increased mass transit as a necessary step toward energy independence. Blueprint America -- with NOW on PBS -- reports from North Carolina to see what the future holds for the country's mass transit systems in these financial times.

What has often been referenced as a new New Deal, similar to initiatives instituted during the Great Depression, the following is a breakdown of federal funds from Congress' economic stimulus devoted to projects or spending that is related to or will affect infrastructure in the U.S.

What is almost gone from the stimulus discussion now is infrastructure. After months of talk of a new New Deal and putting people back to work with public works spending while, at the same time, building a new America, the focus of the stimulus bill has been shifted to tax breaks for home builders, new-car buyers and manufacturers, spending cuts for state governments, and a limit to executive bonus pay.

As the recovery plan was debated in Congress, the House and Senate had seemingly similar but, at the same time, different ideas on how stimulus money should fund transportation projects.

The Senate agreed on a scaled-down economic stimulus bill on Friday when three Republicans said they would back the reworked legislation.

President Barack Obama has brought change to Washington, D.C. In this newly declared post-partisan era of politics, there is growing bipartisan opposition to the President’s economic stimulus package.

As Washington considers a nearly $1 trillion economic stimulus bill to combat an increasing recession, with billions going to public works projects, governments worldwide will, at the same time, spend as much as $1.5 trillion annually for the next 20 years to make up for a lack of similar spending on infrastructure in years past.

Most public transit systems throughout the country, even in cities that approved funding increases during the last election, are facing substantial budget shortfalls.

Like so many other transit agencies around the country, the nation’s largest transit authority - New York City - is in the midst of a severe budget crisis and is facing a $1.2 billion deficit.