Our New List of Stimulus Investigations
Feb. 17: This post has been corrected.
With the anniversary of the stimulus upon us, politicians are likely to bombard us with numbers: 1.5 million to 2 million jobs created or saved, about $300 billion out the door, some $150 billion in the pipeline. The Democratic Policy Committee keeps a list of success stories while Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has published two reports of 100 "wasteful" projects.
One number that's been especially hard to pin down: the cost of waste, fraud and abuse.
Already there have been scattered reports about stimulus contractors that are under investigation or that have had serious violations in their past. Using estimates from fraud experts, the government's stimulus watchdog, Earl Devaney, has said as much as $55 billion could be lost.
But no one knows for sure. So to get at the big picture, we at ProPublica decided to start tracking inspector general reports, auditor investigations and news accounts about questionable contractors. We'll be updating our stimulus investigations list regularly -- so if you have new information about a case or one we should add, e-mail it to suggestions@propublica.org.
Correction: This post originally said that another $333 billion in stimulus funds is in the pipeline to be spent. That figure actually refers to stimulus funds that have been obligated. The amount of money in the pipeline -- that is, obligated but not spent -- is some $150 billion.
Officials have struggled to spend the nearly $800 billion stimulus package quickly and effectively.
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2 comments
Carol Tice
Feb. 19, 2010, 2:21 p.m.
Appreciate the work you’re doing rounding up these examples of waste and fraud in stimulus contracts.
I recently wrote for SuretyBonds.com about one fraudulent contractor who used bogus surety-bond documents to scam the city of Sacramento on a stimulus-funded project. Here’s a <a >link to the story</a>.
The roundup also references and links to some of the contractor problems you’ve mentioned here on Pro Publica as well.
Keep up the great work!
Carol Tice
for SuretyBonds
Carol Tice
Feb. 22, 2010, 2:06 p.m.
OK, that link didn’t work…let’s try again: http://www.suretybonds.com/blog/fake-surety-bonds-part-of-stimulus-funded-contractor-fraud-problem/
Thanks -
Carol Tice
http://www.suretybonds.com
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