Nancy Pelosi’s “Fact Sheet” On Stimulus: There Are No Earmarks Or Pet Projects
Here’s a link to the full fact sheet. Here’s the pertinent excerpt:
Unprecedented Accountability: An historic level of transparency, oversight and accountability will help guarantee taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and ensure that Americans can see the results of their investment.
• There are no earmarks or pet projects.
• In many cases, funds are distributed to existing initiatives with proven track records and with tough accountability measures already in place.
• How funds are spent, all announcements of contract and grant competitions and awards, and formula grant allocations must be posted on a special website created by the President. It must also include the names of agency personnel to contact with concerns about infrastructure projects.
• Public notice of funding must include a description of the investment funded, the purpose, the total cost, and why recovery dollars should be used. Governors, mayors, or others making funding decisions must personally certify that the investment has been fully vetted and is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. This information will also be placed on the internet.
• The Council of Economic Advisors must report quarterly on the results for the American economy.
• A Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board will be created to review management of recovery dollars and provide early warning of problems. The board is made up largely of Inspectors General.
• The Government Accountability Office and the Inspectors General are provided additional funding and access for special review of recovery funding.
• State whistleblowers who report fraud and abuse are protected.
For the record, here’s a partial list of pork projects that are, in fact, in the “stimulus” courtesy of StimulusWatch.org:
A “heritage” trail in Missouri.
A performing arts center in Las Vegas.
An events center in New Mexico.
A “disc golf” course in Texas.
Little League parking in Puerto Rico.
And going beyond mere pork, there’s also a problem with massive government power-grabs that have absolutely nothing to do with economic stimulus being slipped into the bill. Such as a back door to massive new gun control initiatives, the creation of a new national database that will give the government control of all of our medical records and a new government bureaucracy that will monitor our health care treatment to ensure that it’s government approved.
The “stimulus” isn’t a real stimulus. It’s almost the entire Democrat domestic agenda rolled up into one gigantic spending spree with some pork thrown in for flavor. Which is why the Democrats want to hammer it through Congress so fast. Better to pass it before we citizens catch on.
