Today’s Stimulus Debate: City vs. Country
July 10: This post has been corrected.
Today's roundup of stimulus coverage:
We've heard this story before: America's metropolitan areas are losing out to its rural areas when it comes to getting stimulus dollars. What we didn't know is by how much. "The 100 largest metropolitan areas are getting less than half the money from the biggest pot of transportation stimulus money" and they "contribute three-quarters of the nation's economic activity," according to today's New York Times. The Times tells you that this trend will continue. That may or may not be the case. States had a June 29 deadline to obligate, or decide how to spend, 50 percent of their transportation money. But my colleagues here at ProPublica discovered that there's more than one way to meet the deadline. By June 30, they found, "13 (states) still hadn't obligated 50 percent of their total highway funds ... Nevada, for one, had committed only 35 percent." It turns out that states had to obligate only the money controlled by the state governments, not the funds transferred to big cities and urban areas. So cities may not have fully reported their spending projects yet; we've put in a call to the U.S. Conference of Mayors to ask about it.
On Wednesday, we noted that the now-simmering debate over whether the stimulus has created jobs is creating factions in Congress. As concerns grow over the stimulus's impact, Democratic governors are being pulled into the fray. Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell appeared on Capitol Hill for a hearing before the House oversight committee and found himself getting quizzed by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, over just how many jobs the stimulus had created in Pennsylvania. Rendell's answer? "A couple of thousand." (Remember: Pennsylvania has spent nearly $1 billion in stimulus money). The Philadelphia Inquirer has the full exchange.
Also up for debate was the just-released Government Accountability Office report. Among the report's central findings are that states are not using stimulus money to innovate or build new infrastructure, but are using it to plug budgetary gaps. Get ProPublica's lowdown on the GAO report here. For more on how stimulus money is propping up state budgets, check out this piece in today's Wall Street Journal.
So, is the White House for or against a second stimulus? While at a conference in Singapore on Monday, a White House economic adviser said, "We should be planning on a contingency basis for a second round of stimulus." On Wednesday, Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic got ahold of two administration officials who told him that "the president will wait at least six months before deciding whether to support a second stimulus package." Nevertheless, on Wednesday, Rob Nabors, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, denied that the administration is considering a second stimulus. Today, U.S. News & World Report published "Top Obama Aides: Second Stimulus 'Might Eventually Be Needed.'" Looks like time will tell if this stimulus is working and whether another is in the works.
In advance of his trip to Saratoga County, N.Y., Vice President Joe Biden got a not-so-warm welcome message from former New York Gov. George Pataki. Appearing on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Pataki warned the administration against a second stimulus, saying, "When something didn't work the first time, you shouldn't do it a second time."
Over at The Stash, Noam Scheiber looks at a recent analysis by a Goldman Sachs research team stating that we've felt about 40 percent of the stimulus's benefits.
The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded its stimulus grants to hundreds of orchestras, theater troupes, museums and literary foundations. Check out these articles from the Detroit Free Press and the Kansas City Business Journal on how in-state cultural groups will use the money. This should make for some good political theater, too. In Act 1, Republicans will mock stimulus dollars being spent on ballet and sculpture gardens. In Act 2, artists will argue that their jobs are just as important as those of construction workers and bankers. In Act 3? ... That act has yet to be written. Stay tuned.
Rea Hederman, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, calls for Congress to "repeal the remaining wasteful spending from the first (stimulus) bill and focus on policy proposals to encourage capital formulation and reduce taxes on successful companies both large and small."
Staff writer Michael Grabell contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly cited the Philadelphia Enquirer. In fact, the newspaper is called the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Officials have struggled to spend the nearly $800 billion stimulus package quickly and effectively.
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7 comments
Geoff Badenoch
July 9, 2009, 12:16 p.m.
Two thoughts…the balance between states and municipalities is one with shifting advantages. It drives me crazy when states treat municipalities like red-headed stepchildren and equally crazy when municipalities behave irresponsibly. Journalists, bloggers and citizens simply have to carry more of democracies burdens.
With respect to the notion of artists as part of the stimulus, I say, why not? They pay taxes and add to our quality of life. Go look at Coit Tower in San Francisco and see what WPA artists did.
In my community we have a non-profit that hires poets to go into our elementary schools on a regular basis to teach kids to write creatively. The outcome is kids who are engaged, who get their forming brains stretched and who do better in other subjects. No, the point isn’t to raise poets as workers; the point is to raise workers-and lawyers and bankers and politicians and doctors, etc.—who are poets. I’d like to know my lawyer wrote poems, wouldn’t you?
I don’t like all art, but I think a society that encourages and supports artists is a desirable society. I like the chance to choose. Art is worth it.
C O'Donnell
July 9, 2009, 1:28 p.m.
From Maryland’s Gov’s press operation, they talk up the “stimulus tracking tool” that I’ve whined about before.
To their credit, the rev 1 front end, a horriple flash-animated map, has been discarded in favor of a second rev.
Of course, that one has problems when someone who doesn’t have a giant display tries to use it, too.
(Hoary old human interface guideline: Don’t make assumptions about screen size or resolution).
The PR piece says:
“Maryland’s first-in-the-nation web tracking tool for Recovery and Reinvestment funding recently received an upgrade. Last week, Maryland launched an updated application for the website, allowing users to find information more easily. The Map has been upgraded with additional information tools, detailed fund descriptions and project details. The new site also provides users the opportunity to send comments and questions about the data and the map directly to StateStat administrators.”
I’ll be checking to see if these “tools” are there. I was using it Monday and yesterday and while it works, I wasn’t impressed. If the bells and whistles are there, they’re not obvious.
In another giddily silly decision, the old version is still up at:
http://www.mdimap.com/statestat/
... so existing links using that address don’t give you the “better and easier to use” Rev. 2.
New Version: http://www.mdimap.com/statestat2/
C O'Donnell
July 9, 2009, 1:42 p.m.
I live in Maryland’s smallest county (population and acreage). It’s rural. The county seat has roughly 6,000 people.
The state systematically shortchanges Kent County, for example, using a flawed school funding formula that was created without considering that one or more school districts might actually have *declining* student populations; perhaps more seriously, failing to plan necessary road projects—there aren’t many, but they’ve been around for a VERY long time—and put them into the state’s CTP or master plan.
As a result “stimulus funds” are trickling in at best. It’s very difficult to say that urban areas are suffering at the hands of this county’s share of ARRA funding.
Byron Calame
July 9, 2009, 11:30 p.m.
For what it’s worth, it’s the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Eric Umansky
ProPublica
July 10, 2009, 9:25 a.m.
Byron, you’re right, we’re fixing that now. Thanks for flagging it.
Nicole GonzalesNicoleG015
July 11, 2009, 6:39 p.m.
I’m happy that the government shown some effort in resolving economic problem. But I think it’s not enough.
100MoreYearsForTheCubsPlz
July 12, 2009, 3:58 a.m.
For a website titled ‘ProPublica’ this article smacks of mission creep. Simply because a geographic area contributes a larger percentage of “economic activity” does not give that area a greater claim to federal funds in a democracy. Federal funds are intended to be distributed evenly among the populous(or PUBLIC) and not by which plot of land contributes the greatest amount of tax revenue. Case in point is my state of Illinois. Chicago contains almost exactly 50% of the states population and contributes almost 70% of tax revenue so you never hear the end of it when rural areas receive tax revenue that wasn’t directly produced in that area. Amanda please keep in mind the mission of the publication you are writing for in the future.
Thanks
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