For weeks we have heard the administration direct the public to their "special" website, Recovery.gov , and I imagined that with the passage of a final bill that the site would undergo a transformation into an information portal on the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Now that the legislation has been signed into law, that transformation has yet to appear.
Recovery.gov is a beautiful site, full of well placed graphics, but short of substance and details. In fact, visiting the site, most people would be hard-pressed to find any details outside of the Presidential Rhetoric that we have heard in speeches.
At a minimum, you would expect a summary of the bill's provisions, after all, this was a bill that was designed to avert "catastrophe". Perhaps the White House just hasn't had enough time to read the 1,500 page bill. After all, if over 300 members of the Senate and House can vote on a bill without reading it, then why should we expect any more from the White House.
Recovery.gov is filled with graphs telling you about expected job creation and how many Billions were committed to Energy, Tax Breaks, State Relief, etc... However, there is no break down, nothing to show how this stimulus plan will help the average family and nor how the money is being spent.
Recovery.gov was intended to demonstrate the need of the bill and provide transparency to the public as to how the money was being spent. Recovery.gov was supposed to show a distinction between the Bush Administration and Obama Administration so far as accountability and transparency were involved. Yet, informing the public that $59 Billion is being spent on Health Care and $111 Billion on Infrastructure and Science without providing any details as to how the money is intended to or being spent can hardly be defined as an exercise in transparency.
Visit the site, but don't waste too much time, outside of a few colorful graphs, the site is the equivalent of an ambiguous political speech that sounds great but lacks substance. Hopefully, Recovery.gov will improve, but for now it appears to be relegated to the halls of mediocrity and nothing more than a cheering section for the current administration.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009
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I am sceptical that the stimulus will work. However, I disagree with your assessment of the website Recovery.gov. There is no breakdown of how the money is being spent because according to the website's timeline, the spending doesn't start until March. The "colorful graphs" do summarize how the money is layed out. And of course, no one has had time to read the 1500 page document. Give the website time, when the spending starts, and the transparency isn't there, then you have a right to judge.
ReplyDeletemhuitt
It's Obama what do you expect, they will only post what has been spent- wasted after the fact, then what ya gone do about it.
ReplyDeleteI heard through the grapevine that Recovery.gov costs the government over $6 million a month to run. Does anyone have any additional information about this? Is this one of the areas that the recovery bill is funding? Seems like a waste of that level of funding.
ReplyDeletecheck the spelling in your graphic. it's wrong.
ReplyDeleteanon 2/25/09: what grapevine were you using? be specific. it adds to your creditability.