ProPublica Eye on the Stimulus

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.

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A Stimulus Birthday Present: Our Spending Speed Chart

Stimulus Speed Chart

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (PDF), otherwise known as the stimulus. We at ProPublica are taking note with a new interactive graphic. The Stimulus Speed Chart tracks how quickly individual federal agencies have moved stimulus dollars through the bureaucratic pipeline and into the economy.

Using the chart, you can find out two things: how much has actually been spent by each agency, and how much is in process but not yet out the door. The chart tracks the $580 billion in outlays appropriated; the other $212 billion in stimulus goes to tax cuts, which can’t be traced in the same way.

Several agencies stand out. The Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board each spent the bulk of their money last spring. But those two agencies are unique: Much of it went in one-time payments of $250 to beneficiaries. (Similarly, the Department of Veterans Affairs mailed $250 checks a month later, which you can see from the spike in the department’s spending line.)

But most agencies had to get new stimulus programs up and running. The Department of Energy has spent just 4 percent of its stimulus dollars and has nearly $20 billion yet to be obligated, almost half its total authorization. Other agencies with substantial amounts still unspent include the Departments of Defense, Interior and Homeland Security.

The Speed Chart also shows agencies that obligated their money early. By last summer, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Smithsonian, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Corporation for National and Community Service had each committed at least two-thirds.

In the face of stubbornly high unemployment, the Obama administration has faced pressure to spend stimulus money quickly. Last month, for example, Energy Secretary Steven Chu expressed frustration over his agency’s pace of spending. The Speed Chart shows where the bottlenecks are, but not necessary what’s causing them.

About reading the chart: Each agency’s progress is expressed as the percentage of its total stimulus appropriation either 1) paid out or 2) obligated to a specific project or program, but not yet spent (money we call “in process”). As we’ve reported before, the breakdown of appropriations by agency isn’t easy to come by, as there’s no single official tally. Special thanks to folks at the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office for help with the math.

Go to our Stimulus Speed Chart.

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Stimulus Spending Hits $272 Billion—34 Percent of Total

The Obama administration has spent $179 billion in stimulus funds, according to the latest numbers from Recovery.gov. Combined with an estimated $93 billion in stimulus tax cuts, that means the government has now moved at least $272 billion into the economy, or 34 percent of the total amount approved by Congress last February.

You can find those numbers and more on our Stimulus Progress Bar.

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Recovery Data to Get a Checkup

It’s time once again for stimulus data. And it will be again. And again.

This past weekend, the government’s stimulus Web site, Recovery.gov, released its second big batch of data on stimulus projects. But be careful: That data, which includes tidbits such as award amounts and jobs information, is not the final version. Recipients have until Feb. 8 to make changes to the information they submitted. During that time, the folks at the Office of Management and Budget will be doing some data checks as well.

After that, a new and improved data set will be posted on Recovery.gov on Feb. 10. We’ll be using that information to update our recovery tracker.

But wait. That’s not all. Under the continuous QA process, recipients will be able to correct reports until March 15. During that time, federal agencies will be able to identify errors in reports. Updated data will be released every other Wednesday during that time. We’ll keep you posted when updated data is available.

“The idea is to be as transparent as we can be, and to provide the most accurate numbers possible,” said Ed Pound, spokesman for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. “We believe this new process will improve the quality of the data.”

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One-Third of Stimulus Money Spent

The Obama administration has passed the one-third mark in getting last February’s stimulus dollars out the door, according to the latest numbers from Recovery.gov. That figure includes $176 billion in spending, and an estimated $93 billion in tax relief.

You can find these numbers and more on our interactive Stimulus Progress Bar.

The milestone comes on the heels of a new report from the Congressional Budget Office, which estimates that the total cost of the stimulus will be $75 billion more than the CBO had originally projected.

When Congress passed the stimulus bill last year, the CBO estimated it would cost $787 billion in extra spending and lost revenue from tax cuts. That estimate has now been increased to $862 billion, due to an increase in the projected costs of some of the programs in the stimulus, including food stamps and unemployment insurance.

For more details, check out our Stimulus Progress Bar.

UPDATE, Feb. 4th 2010: Despite the CBO’s new estimate of the total cost of the stimulus, ProPublica will continue to count stimulus spending against the amount of money that Congress actually authorized the administration to spend ($792 billion) rather than the amount of money the administration is expected to spend—which, as we’ve seen, will change as time goes on. We’ll revise our $792 billion number if (or when) Congress does.

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