After a lot of sound and even more fury, the House of Representatives finally passed a $15 billion jobs bill. (Yes, billion.) The bill has been debated, criticized, lauded, feared, analyzed and everything else you can possibly do to a bill. The final vote was 217-201.

Some critics (in the House and in the general population) feel the bill is unnecessary. Others think it doesn’t do enough. Many observers feel it’s close but not perfect. And some people actually like it. What’s all the fuss about? Well, here are some of the highlights of the bill to give you an idea of what the Senate needs to approve next week before anything else happens (via AP):

 The $100 billion-plus bill would extend unemployment assistance, revive a bevy of expired tax breaks, help states with soaring Medicaid costs and prevent doctors from having to absorb big cuts in Medicare payments. The popular initiatives are traditionally extended on a bipartisan basis for brief periods of time, which hides their long-term costs.

First, [the jobs bill] would exempt businesses hiring the unemployed from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December and give them an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year.

Second, it would extend highway and mass transit programs through the end of the year and pump in $20 billion for the spring construction season. The money would make up for lower-than-expected gasoline tax revenues.

You’ll be hearing more about this in the coming days, weeks and months. If you love it or hate it, I think we can all agree that hopefully positive results will come from this.

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