Tracking Stimulus Dollars

I’ve asked the Secretary of Energy to account for recent reports from the agency watchdog that one of the most shovel-ready initiatives receiving money from the 2009 stimulus bill isn’t performing as it should be.

Reports from the Inspector General say that spending in the Weatherization Assistance Program has been dramatically ramped up due to pressure to quickly spend down money that was authorized in the stimulus bill passed 13 months ago.  Yet little, if any, progress has been made in weatherizing homes.  Big grants have gone to four states (CA, TX, NY, MI), but homes aren’t being improved.  Where work was done, there’s been poor workmanship, and no one has been held accountable.

Government projects receiving money from the 2009 stimulus program have a limited timeframe in which to get the money out the door.  In fact, in order to meet its requirement alone, the Department of Energy has to obligate an average of $55 million a day.  This situation creates a very bad environment for the responsible handling of tax dollars.  The weatherization program alone got $5 billion under the stimulus bill. 

It seems pretty clear that the federal bureaucracy has failed to safeguard these tax dollars, which are on the fast-track to be spent because of the stimulus bill.  I won’t accept that and will continue to press the Secretary of Energy to respond to what the Inspector General found.

The Inspector General reports are linked here.

http://www.ig.energy.gov/documents/OAS-RA-10-04.pdf

http://www.ig.energy.gov/documents/OAS-RA-10-03.pdf

http://www.ig.energy.gov/documents/OAS-RA-10-02_(2).pdf