3-12-09, 2:13 pm
The president's economic recovery package passed in mid-February, and many of its funds for job-creating projects and provisions are on their way to the states. Political motives on the part of some of the nation's governors, however, seem to be causing economic recovery to grind to a halt.
According to , the White House's public source on where stimulus money is going and how it is being spent, grants to states for additional Medicaid spending went out in late February. Additional funds to boost unemployment benefits have also allowed states to sustain and expand those programs. Money for law enforcement and transportation projects totaling over $30 billion together were also released recently.
This week, the Obama administration announced the allocation of $8 billion to help states provide funds to families who want to 'weatherize' their homes. Expected to create almost 90,000 jobs nationwide, this program will subsidize families who want to add more insulation, seal leaks and modernizing heating and air conditioning equipment. Reduced energy usages and costs are other direct benefits of this program.
In announcing the allocation of those funds, Vice President Biden said, “This energy efficiency funding for states is an important investment in making America more energy independent, creating a cleaner economy and creating more jobs for the 21st century that can’t be outsourced.'
A $44 billion sum from the recovery package to help states avoid the planned layoff of thousands of teachers and other education professionals will be released to the states in early to mid-April, the White House announced last week. That money, according to the Department of Education, will be released to the states as part of the state stabilization fund, directly to public schools that get Title I federal funds, and to college students who apply for Pell Grants to pay for tuition.
'These funds will be distributed as quickly as possible to save and create jobs and improve education, and will be invested as transparently as possible so we can measure the impact in the classroom,' said Education Secretary Arne Duncan last week. 'Strict reporting requirements will ensure that Americans know exactly how their money is being spent and how their schools are being improved.'
In addition to information about where and how stimulus money is being spent, Recovery.org also provides voters with access to information about which states and which political leaders appear to be greasing the wheels of stimulus and those who are standing in the way.
For example, the website has a page that provides a US map with links to state recovery websites. According to the map, 19 states – of which only two have Democratic governors – do not yet have operational state recovery sites. Thirty-one states have working websites on the recovery package.
Those state websites provide detailed information on how recovery dollars are being spent and how local communities can apply for that money. Clicking on the state of Michigan, for example, takes a reader to that state's government site and provides more details.
According to the Michigan state recovery page, the Michigan National Guard will be getting $7.85 million in stimulus money to upgrade water and sewage facilities at several of its facilities. The state is slated to receive $67 million for law enforcement, $3.5 million for improvements at national parks, and more than $230 for sewer and water projects across the state. Of the latter, 20 percent of those funds must be used for 'green infrastructure' to increase water use and energy efficiency.
The state of New York, despite massive proposed cuts to cover a budget shortfall, will not have to make several thousand teacher layoffs projected in that state's budget. Arkansas will be putting some $350 million toward building and repairing roads and bridges. Virginia will be receiving just over $1 billion to stabilize its budget and boost education spending.
State recovery websites also usually provide information for county and local governments to submit their projects to the state for stimulus funds.
States like Louisiana, South Carolina, Minnesota and Alaska are among those which have so far failed to create a state recovery site to allow voters to follow the money or to open avenues for local governments to learn more about available funds. In each of these states, the Republican governor has been identified as a potential candidate for president in 2012.
Notoriously, despite the growing number of unemployed in his state, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), an expected frontrunner for the Republican Party presidential nomination, grabbed some of the media spotlight last month by insisting that he would reject the stimulus money. He called it 'big government' and described the president's plan as the last thing Americans wanted their government to do.
More recently, and to much less fanfare however, Jindal caved and agreed to take the money.
Other Republican presidential hopefuls such as South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has sought a confrontation with President Obama over the stimulus funds, especially for public education. Sanford apparently wants to be able to tell Republican primary voters in 2011 that he stood up to the president's socialistic program no matter how much it hurt the people of his state.
In a teleconference with reporters this week, Education Secretary Duncan said, 'I think the children of South Carolina are hurting and desperately need these resources. And the last thing we need in a place like South Carolina is thousands of teachers being laid off.'
New unemployment figures for states released this week showed that South Carolina is one of four US states with an unemployment rate of over 10 percent. It shares this dubious honor with Michigan, California and Rhode Island.
Fortunately for the people of South Carolina, the economic recovery package allows state legislatures to override gubernatorial opposition to the plan and accept the money anyway.
