recovery.gov off to a good start

Looks like the White House is off to a good start showing where our money is going with recovery.gov.

This is very different that the bailout plan from the previous administration, where billions of dollars haven't been tracked, nor have they from the Iraq war.

recovery.gov is just a start, in part since there are government regulations limiting how much can be revealed, and it'll take a little time to fix that.

However, NextGov.com reports that the White House has already started the effort:

Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag issued initial guidance to agencies on Wednesday for administering stimulus funds, providing information and requirements on financial reporting, risk management and contracting.

The 62-page memorandum was sent to agency and department heads, who were directed to distribute the guidance to personnel involved in economic recovery-related activity. Orszag said the policies must take effect immediately to carry out the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The memo focused in particular on requiring agencies to regularly submit spending and performance data to recovery.gov, the online clearinghouse that provides information on how the stimulus funds are spent.

"To deliver a Web site that allows citizens to hold the government accountable for every dollar spent, the law and guidance require federal agencies to implement mechanisms to accurately track, monitor and report on taxpayer funds," Orszag said.

Comments

[scottsbigmouth]

Craig-

How would one/a group systematically audit what OMB is auditing? Is there a way for outside entities, news orgs, reporters to discover whether OMB, CBO, etc. are actually tracking what really is being spent and where? It will be interesting to see what happens once the money is released, to see what kind of watchdog mechanisms come from groups like Public Citizen, academics, think tanks, etc. Ideas?

Scott Foval
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