Research Briefing

Obama Launches Hotline For Americans To Report Stimulus Fraud, Waste And Abuse 

“[O]n Monday, the [Recovery Accountability and Transparency] board will unveil a toll-free phone number — 1-877-FWA-DESK — that will allow callers to report suspected fraudulent uses of stimulus funds. Just think “fraud, waste and abuse” while dialing the desk.” (Bernie Becker, “Revamped Recovery.Gov To Launch Monday,” The New York Times’ “The Caucus,” Blog, 9/25/09)

HERE’S THE FIRST DAY’S CALL SHEET

Stimulus Funds For $18 Million Stimulus Website. “For those concerned about stimulus spending, the General Services Administration sends word tonight that $18 million in additional funds are being spent to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site. The contract calls for spending $9.5 million through January, and as much as $18 million through 2014, according to the GSA press release.” (Rick Klein, “$18M Being Spent to Redesign Recovery.gov Web Site,” ABC News’ “The Note“ Blog, 7/8/09)

• That Is Re-Launching Today. “Recovery.gov, the government Web site that tracks spending from this year’s stimulus package, will be relaunched on Monday, according to a release from the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.” (Bernie Becker, “Revamped Recovery.Gov To Launch Monday,” The New York Times’ “The Caucus” Blog, 9/25/09)

Stimulus Funds For $1500 Signs In Georgia Advertising Stimulus. “Bright orange and standing more than 10 feet tall, the signs are hard to miss as you approach Roswell Road from either direction on Marietta Parkway in east Cobb County. They declare the $7.5 million in improvements planned for that area are coming from federal stimulus funds. So are the signs for that matter. The cost to taxpayers: $1,500 each plus $100 for installation. As more such federally funded road projects get under way, hundreds more of these signs are expected to pop up across the state. All thanks to a Georgia Department of Transportation requirement of two signs per stimulus project. At an average cost of about $1,200 per sign and with about 250 projects planned or under way, the cost to taxpayers could top $600,000, though state contractors could cut that amount by reusing some signs.” (Jeremy Redmon, “GDOT To Pay For Road Signs From Federal Stimulus Funds At $1,500 Per Sign,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/25/09)

Stimulus Funds For $500 Signs In Maryland And New Hampshire, $3000 Signs In New Jersey Advertising Stimulus.  ABC News’ Jonathan Karl: “These signs are much pricier, 500 bucks a piece in Maryland and New Hampshire, $1,700 in Georgia, $2,000 per sign Pennsylvania and New York, and $3,000 per project in New Jersey.” (ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” 7/10/09)

Stimulus Funds For $2,000 Signs In Pennsylvania Advertising Stimulus. “PennDOT has spent $60,000 to create large green road signs telling motorists that funding was secured by the federal stimulus package ... The signs will cost about $2,000 each ... Lori Irving, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Transportation, acknowledged the department strongly encouraged states to use stimulus funding to develop the signs ... ‘Personally I think it is ridiculous that any of the stimulus money is used by government entities to make signs,’ said Mike Cupp of Morgantown, W.Va. ...’Explain to me how that is stimulating?’” (Salena Zito, “Road Signs Eat Up Part Of Stimulus,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 7/20/09)

Stimulus Funds For Turtles. “A report due to be released today by a Republican senator contends the Obama administration’s stimulus program is fraught with waste and incompetence -- evidenced by a turtle crossing in northern Florida that will cost more than $3 million.” (Peter Nicholas, “Stimulus Program Fraught With Waste Report Says,” The Los Angeles Times, 6/15/09)

Stimulus Money Funding Social Security Checks For Dead People.  “The Social Security Administration has continued to pay millions of dollars in benefits to dead Americans, and other elderly U.S. residents are at risk of losing badly needed aid because they’re improperly recorded as deceased, federal investigators warn in a new report.” (Michael Doyle, “Social Security Audit Finds Dead People Getting Checks,” McClatchy, 6/30/09)

Stimulus Funds Used By North Carolina Town To Hire Person To Obtain More Stimulus Funds. “One town in North Carolina is using stimulus funds to hire an administrator whose job will be to procure more stimulus funds, according to the report.” (Peter Nicholas, “Stimulus Program Fraught With Waste Report Says,” The Los Angeles Times, 6/15/09)

Stimulus Funds For Barely-Used Roads. “In Wisconsin, 37 rural bridges carrying a little more than 500 vehicles a day -- some far fewer than that -- are on track to get stimulus dollars” (Jonathan Weisman, “GOP Faults Some Stimulus Projects,” The Wall Street Journal,6/16/09)

Stimulus Funds For Vacant Train Station. “Mr. Coburn’s report criticizes Pennsylvania for proposing to spend $9.4 million to ‘renovate a 97-year-old train station that has sat vacant for more than 30 years.’” (Jonathan Weisman, “GOP Faults Some Stimulus Projects,” The Wall Street Journal,6/16/09)

Stimulus Funds For Increasing Ambiance Of Gloversville, New York. “Transit Director Al Schutz is ecstatic it [federal stimulus funding] will include $175,000 for a trolley-style bus. … ‘It’s endless what you can do with this trolley,’ Schutz said. ‘It will definitely contribute to the ambiance of our city,’ he said, adding with emphasis: ‘which we need.’” (Jim McGuire, “Gloversville Can Get Trolley Bus With Federal Stimulus,” Daily Gazette, 3/24/09)

Stimulus Funds For Programs Helping Homeless For New York Town With No Homeless. “The Town of Union is getting $578,661 in federal Recovery Act funding for a homeless problem that may not exist within its borders. The money is coming from the federal Housing and Urban Development program to pay for homeless prevention and emergency shelter programs. Union did not request the money and does not currently have homeless programs in place in the town to administer such funds, said town Supervisor John Bernardo …‘We were surprised,’ Bernardo said. ‘We’ve never been a recipient before.’ Bernardo said he isn’t aware of any homeless issue in the largely suburban town …” (Nancy Dooling, “$578,661 For Union Homeless Questioned,” Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, 3/5/09)

Stimulus Funds For Ramps In Areas With No Sidewalks Or Pedestrians. “During the next 10 years, Pennsylvania will spend $820 million redoing 117,000 ramps statewide, many in suburban and rural counties where there are no sidewalks and no pedestrians.  In Chester County, this translates to 1,612 curbs. The cost is $3,000 to $7,000 for each new ramp, though some are only a couple years old.  More than a third of Chester County’s federal stimulus transportation package will fund new curbs - $7.1 million - many on streets with no sidewalks that are rarely, if ever, used by pedestrians.  The curbs are being fixed now because other projects the county desperately wants, such as widening six miles of Route 202 near Route 29 at the Great Valley Corporate Center, where 130,000 people are employed, can’t get permits and PennDot approval in the four to six months required by the stimulus guidelines…In Philadelphia, $300 million will be spent to fix 20,000 curbs.” (Karen Heller, “Karen Heller: On Every Corner, A Federal Project At Your Expense,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/21/09)

Stimulus Funds For Studies On Marijuana. “A WSU Vancouver research project analyzing the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine to control pain has received $148,438 from the National Institutes of Health. … The grant is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).” (Washington State University Vancouver, “Marijuana Study Receives Federal Stimulus Money,” Press Release, June 2, 2009). 

Stimulus Funds For Cash-Rich Microsoft To Connect “One Part Of Campus With Another.” “Microsoft Corp, which has $20 billion of cash in the bank, is among the first in the Puget Sound area to benefit from the investment in roads and bridges through President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan. Local planners allotted $11 million of $214 million awarded to the region to help pay for a highway overpass in Redmond, Washington, connecting one part of Microsoft’s wooded campus with another.” (Dina Bass, “‘Bridge To Microsoft’ Is One Of Puget Sound Prizes In Stimulus,” Bloomberg, 3/13/09)

Stimulus Funds For Roads That Don’t Need Repairs. “Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads ... In all, 1,286 deficient or obsolete bridges are expected to share $2.2 billion in stimulus money for repairs, the AP analysis shows. But that’s less than 1 percent of the more than 150,000 bridges nationwide that engineers have labeled deficient or obsolete. Of those, more than 39,000 are considered the worst, rated poor in at least one structural component and eligible to be replaced with federal money.” (Brett J. Blackledge and Matt Apuzzo, “Stimulus Cash Not Fixing Dangerous Bridges,” The Associated Press, 7/31/09)

Stimulus Funds For Art Houses Showing “Pervert” Revues, Underground Pornography. “The National Endowment for the Arts may be spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night ‘pervert’ revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco.” (Joseph Abrams, “Stimulus Bill Funds Go to Art Houses Showing ‘Pervert’ Revues, Underground Pornography,” Fox News, 7/30/09)

Stimulus Funds For Rarely Used Airport. “The Greenbrier Valley Airport, the gateway to the ritzy Greenbrier resort where rooms start at $500 a night, is about to get more than $2 million in federal stimulus funds to spruce up the terminal building. Only two commercial flights a day come in and out of the Lewisburg, W.Va., airport and, on average, each plane carries six passengers.” (Jonathan Karl, “U.S. Taxpayers Fund Empty ‘Airports To Nowhere,’” ABC News, 9/18/09)

Stimulus Funds For San Francisco Mice. “The tiny mouse that became a hotly disputed symbol of wasteful spending in the congressional debate over the $787 billion economic stimulus bill has returned to pester House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Obama administration quietly announced last week that as much as $16.1 million from the stimulus program is going to save the San Francisco Bay area habitat of, among other things, the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse.” (S.A. Miller, “GOP Slams Stimulus Mouse Money,” The Washington Times,7/9/09)

Stimulus Funds For Foreign Corporations Creating Jobs Overseas. “Nearly half of the $2.4 billion in federal grant money awarded Wednesday to stimulate the U.S. economy and boost the production of hybrid and electric vehicles went to six companies with ties to places as far away as Russia, China, South Korea and France. ... But because so few American companies have the necessary technology, much of the money will initially go toward manufacturing electric vehicle batteries overseas.”  (Jerry Seper, “Obama Sends Stimulus Aid To Foreign Firms,” The Washington Times,8/6/09)

Stimulus Funds For Stoves That Were Going To Be Ordered Anyway. “Project #55 in the report states that: ‘With the help of Recovery Act funding, Zeglin’s Home TV & Appliance, a locally-owned and operated company, is currently replacing stoves in Public Housing units in Davenport, Iowa, with American-made Whirlpool appliances.’ The reality: Zeglins TV & Appliance, Inc. in Davenport, recently placed an order for 160 stoves and refrigerators for public housing ... But, this was a project that had already been approved by Davenport city council to be paid for by federal monies, Margaret Murphy the Assisted Housing Manager for the city, tells ABC News ... The point is: those stoves would have been purchased and installed anyway.” (Jake Tapper, “Follow The Stimulus, Part 2: Stoves In Davenport, Iowa,” ABC News’ “Political Punch” Blog, 5/29/09)

Stimulus Funds For Company Under Criminal Investigation. “But despite such efforts, records show that one federal agency has awarded $6 million in stimulus funds to a huge international construction management company that has been the focus of two criminal investigations in the last two years and was suspended in June from bidding on and performing work at New York City schools.” (William K. Rashbaum, “Stimulus Funds Go To Company Under Cloud,” The New York Times,9/3/09)

ACORN Has Applied For Over $6 Million In Stimulus Funds. “Meanwhile, the ACORN Institute, one of many ACORN affiliates, has applied for over $6 million in grant money for broadband projects ... funding included as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” (Kevin Mooney, “ACORN Wants Another $6 Million Despite Scandals,” The Washington Examiner, 9/14/09)

• And Could Receive Even Million More In Stimulus Funds.  “[T]he report goes on to note that ‘since 1994, more than $53 million in federal funds have been pumped into Acorn, and under the Obama Administration, Acorn stands to receive a whopping $8.5 billion in stimulus funds.’” (Editorial, “Acorn Live!” The Wall Street Journal,9/16/09)