Billions of dollars have come to Virginia through the federal stimulus package, and that money likely had an effect on your paycheck.

The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis released a report Wednesday showing the stimulus has brought $3 billion in direct aid to Virginia.

According to the institute, $1.9 billion of that was in the "Making Work Pay" tax credit that lowered withholdings from some people's paychecks.

The report also shows hundreds of millions of dollars in increases to food stamp benefits, extensions and increases of unemployment benefits, and other areas.

The institute did not look at how many jobs have been created by the stimulus.

"By providing the aid in these mechanisms, it put money back in people's pockets, and the idea being that they would turn around and spend that in their local economies and keep consumer demand going," says Michael Cassidy, the institute's president and CEO.

The Commonwealth Institute is a progressive think tank that advocates for low-income families.

The U.S. Congress is currently debating whether to extend certain provisions of the stimulus package.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.