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As Obama Pushes For Second Stimulus, Federal Audit Agency Says States Have Only Spent One-Quarter of Funds Set Aside for Them in First StimulusPublished: 2009-12-18 14:37:08By: Christopher Neefus | CNS News | December 16, 2009 (CNSNews.com) – As President Obama and congressional Democrats push for a second stimulus package, a federal auditing agency is reporting that less than one-quarter of the economic stimulus money allocated for spending by the states has been used--the majority of which went to cover increases in Medicaid. In a December report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office said that as of Nov. 27, only $69.1 billion, “or about one quarter of the approximately $280 billion of total Recovery Act funds for programs administered by states and localities had been paid out. That means that only 24.7 percent of the available funds had been spent by that date. Of the money already spent, more than 55 percent of it--about $38.2 billion--was spent on health-care programs. The bulk of the money allocated for state use under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008 -- the stimulus law -- is to be spent in Fiscal Year 2010, which began on October 1 and ends September 30, 2010. Over that time period, the federal government plans to spend more than $100 billion of the $280 billion. Spending will then decrease each year through 2016. However, in a speech last week at the Brookings Institution, a center-left think-tank in Washington, D.C., in which he spoke about the need to create jobs, President Obama presented a package that is being labeled as a “second stimulus.” Obama’s plan would include more spending on infrastructure, hiring incentives, and emergency aid to states. The president also proposed spending on incentives for people to weatherize their homes and make energy efficient upgrades. The actions would amount to billions more in spending, but the exact price tag would depend on the specific legislation Congress passes. Full story |
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