Stimulus Or Political "Slush" Fund To Pay Back Supporters And Buy Votes?

MarineReconDad — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:04:41 GMT

Billions of dollars in federal aid delivered directly to the local level to help revive the economy have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election.

That aid — about $17 billion — is the first piece of the administration's massive stimulus package that can be tracked locally. Much of it has followed a well-worn path to places that regularly collect a bigger share of federal grants and contracts, guided by formulas that have been in place for decades and leave little room for manipulation.

"There's no politics at work when it comes to spending for the recovery," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says.

Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain , a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows. That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college.

The reports show the 872 counties that supported Obama received about $69 per person, on average. The 2,234 that supported McCain received about $34.

Investigators who track the stimulus are skeptical that political considerations could be at work. The imbalance is so pronounced — and the aid so far from complete — that it would be almost inconceivable for it to be the result of political tinkering, says Adam Hughes, the director of federal fiscal policy for the non-profit OMB Watch. "Even if they wanted to, I don't think the administration has enough people in place yet to actually do that," he says.

"Most of what they're doing at this point is just stamping the checks and sending them out," Hughes says.

The stimulus package Obama signed in February includes about $499 billion in new spending, and to date, the Obama administration has allocated about $158 billion to specific projects and programs. Most of that money has gone directly to state governments, which then disperse the money to prevent school layoffs, repair roads and fund social services. That contrasts with the $17 billion that Washington distributes directly to local communities.

Including the larger chunk of money given to state governments, the aid favors states that voted for Obama, which have received about 20% more per person

Not all of the money favors places that supported Obama. About a third of the $17 billion, or $5.5 billion, in contracts that the federal government has signed for projects ranging from repaving runways to cleaning up nuclear waste has gone overwhelmingly to counties that supported McCain.

Jake Wiens, an investigator with the non-profit Project on Government Oversight, says it's too soon to draw meaningful conclusions about whether the type of aid in the stimulus favors Obama's constituents.

But, he says, "it will be important to pay close attention as the data come in to ensure that political favoritism plays no role."

The imbalance didn't start with the stimulus. From 2005 through 2007, the counties that later voted for Obama collected about 50% more government aid than those that supported McCain, according to spending reports from the U.S. Census Bureau . USA TODAY's review did not include Alaska, which does not report its election results by county.

RE: Stimulus Or Political "Slush" Fund To Pay Back Supporters And Buy Votes?

A Brown — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:11:11 GMT

This is short and to the point, I believe Obama is not going to go out of his way to help anyone if 1. He hasn't already been helped some way. 2. He isn't in some way being helped in the present. 3. Or he thinks he will be greatly helped in the future. That's the way his dictator brain works, I'm sorry to say.

RE: Stimulus Or Political "Slush" Fund To Pay Back Supporters And Buy Votes?

congress watcher — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:11:31 GMT

Glad to see some of you are catching on. I will inform you there will be a lot more coming at you. Right now or I should say upon Obama taking office a piece of legislation was introduced to the House it is called House Joint Resolution No. 5.I am suprised everyone has not been shouting at their congress over this piece of legislation and it has nothing to do with health care or the stimulus. It does have a whole lot to do with our Constitution though. Wake up America!!!!!

RE: Stimulus Or Political "Slush" Fund To Pay Back Supporters And Buy Votes?

ginger — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:05:36 GMT

Mr. Obama is not the President of all the people. Only those who helped buy him the presidency and special interest groups such as Acorn will benefit. He doesn't give a rat's behind about the country. He wants to be the next Chavez. He's a dictator in the making and scares the heck out of me.

Can you believe the Cap & Tax bill wasn't even written and put to a vote. That should be illegal and he and his cronies should be held accountable.

The health bill will include jungle jims, street lights, jogging paths etc. What a crock! We've got to stop this self appointed god from changing the Constitution allowing 3 terms as President.

RE: Stimulus Or Political "Slush" Fund To Pay Back Supporters And Buy Votes?

ginagreen — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:47:49 GMT

you quoted

Adam Hughes, the director of federal fiscal policy for the non-profit OMB Watch

yes it's non profit but is he working in the white house does he know exackly how the money is being send out?

are is he a gop in a non profit company whose main goal is to find something anything this president has done wrong???

well then his words of course would be critical of how the money is beign spend and to whom

but consider form this

Georgia's Republican senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, voted against the $787 billion economic stimulus package, blasting the bill as a bloated government giveaway.

But their disdain didn't stop them from later asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to steer $50 million in stimulus money to a constituent's bio-energy project.

Gates didn't do it, but Chambliss, Isakson and other Republican opponents of the stimulus aren't going empty-handed.

Billions of dollars worth of Defense Department stimulus money is paying for repairs and construction at military installations in areas represented by lawmakers who said "no" to the legislation, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

and

a few days after criticizing the "staggering" cost of the stimulus, Rep. Brett Guthrie, a Republican from Kentucky, urged Gates to consider using stimulus money to renovate a military hospital at Fort Knox, a sprawling Army base located in his congressional district.

The Pentagon's stimulus spending plan shows no money for the hospital repairs. But of the more than $159 million in military stimulus money slated for Kentucky, almost $38 million is for other repair work at Fort Knox. Most of the total, $110 million, goes to Fort Campbell, home to the Army's 101st Airborne Division. It's in Republican Ed Whitfield's district.

Oklahoma Republican Mary Fallin joined her Democratic colleague, Rep. Dan Boren, in asking Army Secretary Pete Geren to use $8.4 million in stimulus money for repairs to buildings at two Oklahoma National Guard sites.

Fallin had called the stimulus a "Big Brother spending program" that didn't do enough to finance needed infrastructure projects. The money she and Boren sought isn't in the Pentagon's spending plans.

The Pentagon was allotted $7.4 billion in stimulus money, the bulk of it for overdue base repairs and new construction. About $5 billion is going to 16 states that top the Pentagon's stimulus spending list, including California, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky, where the military has a significant presence.

About $1.2 billion is for new hospitals at Fort Hood, an Army base in Texas Republican John Carter's district, and Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base in California Republican Darrell Issa's district. The two hospitals are the largest individual projects to be paid for with defense stimulus dollars.

Carter voted against the bill, saying the stimulus would pile debt on future generations. But he hailed the $621 million hospital project as a victory for the economy in central Texas, where Fort Hood occupies more than 217,000 acres.

Construction of the Fort Hood hospital is scheduled to begin in September 2010. Also planned for the base is $100 million more in stimulus money for work ranging from road repairs to replacing heating and cooling systems.

John Stone, Carter's spokesman, said the congressman has been pushing for several years to get a new hospital at Fort Hood. The new hospital is also supported by Rep. Chet Edwards, a Texas Democrat who chairs the House subcommittee that controls military construction spending. Carter is also on the subcommittee.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is logging Republican names into a "Hypocrisy Hall of Fame," an online catalog of GOP lawmakers who voted against the stimulus package yet are "celebrating the benefits of President Obama's economic recovery bill in their districts."

finally most of the complaints have been itis moving to slow, the reason is they are required to give details of how and were the money will be spend so they are not just signing checks

the only one who got the money with in two weeks of signing the bill was the middle clas who have loss jobs because of the ecomony they have been getting 100 a month extra since the stimlus bill was signed