In most cases, budgets are relative. They get trimmed when times are tough and expand when there’s more to spend.

Kind of the opposite of the federal budgeting process. And the recent economic stimulus plan is a good example of how the government’s decided that to make money for Americans, it’s gotta spend some.

Actually, it’s gotta spend a lot.

The $825 billion stimulus bill unveiled last week by House Democrats is evidence that lawmakers believe we might be able to spend our way out of this economic crisis.

A healthy chunk of the spending will go to technology. The stimulus bill includes about $45 billion in technology spending, including big bucks for homeland security, health information technology and spreading broadband access to folks in rural communities.

One of the largest IT items in the budget is $20 billion to move health records into the digital age. The Dems would also like to spend $15 billion to enhance the electricity grid and to research renewable energy. The bill has $6 billion to expand broadband Internet access to rural and “underserved” areas.

The $6 billion for broadband will be mostly in the form of grants to states and municipalities to help expand access for broadband as well as wireless Internet access. There’s $350 million in the bill to establish a State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, which would support an initiative to track broadband availability in every state.

Obama’s been talking for years about how important it is to expand Web access to folks outside the big cities and crowded suburbs. He seems to be making good on his promise with the money in this bill — so long as he doesn’t sacrifice it to the fiscal hawks looking to pick apart the stimulus bill once it gets to the hill.

The large amount of money set aside for medical records IT is important because without electronic medical records, it’s gonna be tough to set up a national health care program like the one the Obama administration’s planning.

The stimulus bills sets aside:

• $900 million for the Social Security Administration to upgrade its IT platforms and National Computing Center, but a portion of that money might be used for health IT research.
• $4.5 billion to modernize the electric grid to enhance security and reliability
• $2 billion for research on renewable energy
• $8 billion for the Energy Department’s Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee program for products that help reduce the number of greenhouse gases and create energy using energy-efficient technologies
• $600 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to speed up the development of climate sensors and climate modeling capabilities
• $400 million for NASA, $250 million of which would go to boost the development of climate research. (NASA would also get $150 million to improve aviation safety and research the Next-Generation air traffic control system.)

Other projects proposed in the bill target facility modernization and construction, which might include IT components. For example, the Indian Health Service would collect $550 million to repair and modernize its health care facilities and purchase equipment, which can include health IT.

The Defense Department gets $4.5 billion for “facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization programs” many of which could be IT projects.

The Homeland Security Department would take in $100 million to install non-intrusive detection technology at the country’s seaports, in addition to $500 million to buy and set up explosive detection systems and cutting-edge checkpoint technologies at airports.

The bill also incorporated several agencies’ specific IT modernization projects for funding, like the $245 million for the Farm Service Agency to modernize its IT system, $100 million to implement new management information systems, and $276 million for the State Department to upgrade and modernize its IT platforms.

Want to look at the bill line by line to figure out what stimulus money might be coming your way? Check out the full text of the bill here.