Audit: States using stimulus just to stay afloat

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Projects in some of the nation’s poorest areas don’t appear to be getting a fair shake in the spending of $787 billion in stimulus funds, the chairman of the House oversight committee said Wednesday.

Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the panel, said he was particularly concerned that transportation projects in economically distressed areas were being left out – even though they are supposed to be a priority.

“There is a substantial variation among states as to what constitutes an economically distressed area,” Towns said. “For this reason, it is unclear whether Recovery Act funds are going where they are needed most.”

Towns comments came in response to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday at a hearing before his committee.

The GAO said about half the money set aside for road and bridge repairs is being used to repave highways rather than building new infrastructure. And state officials aren’t steering the money toward counties that need jobs the most, auditors found.

The Obama administration intended for the stimulus to jump-start the economy, build new schools and usher in an era of education reform. But government auditors said many states are setting aside grand plans to stay afloat.

The GAO said the stimulus is keeping teachers off the unemployment lines, helping states make greater Medicaid payments and providing a desperately needed cushion to state budgets.

But investigators found repeated examples in which, either out of desperation or convenience, states favored short-term spending over long-term efforts such as education reform.

In Flint, Mich., for example, new schools haven’t been built in 30 years but the school superintendent told auditors he would use federal money to cope with budget deficits rather than building new schools or paying for early childhood education.

The 400-page stimulus includes provisions for long-term growth, such as high-speed rail and energy efficiency, but their effects will be seen later.

Since Obama signed the stimulus bill in February, the economy has shed more than 2 million jobs. Unemployment now stands at 9.5 percent, the highest in more than a quarter century.

Robert L. Nabors II, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, testified that 150,000 jobs had been created from stimulus spending. With the stimulus spending, he said the nation is moving down the right path.

“We are making progress, but we still have a long way to go,” Nabors said.