In Two Months, an Entire $12 Billion of Obama's Stimulus Has Been Paid Out
The Campaign Spot
Jim Geraghty Reporting
President Obama, February 9, 2009:
<<< "That's why I am calling on Congress to pass this [stimulus] bill immediately. Folks here in Elkhart and across America need help right now, and they can't afford to keep on waiting for folks in Washington to get this done." >>>
We didn't have time to waste with Congress debating it; but apparently Americans can afford to keep on waiting for those other folks in Washington — those staffing the cabinet agencies — to get the money out the door.
According to Recovery.gov, in the two months since the stimulus was signed into law, $12 billion has been paid out.
Quite a few federal agencies and programs have not yet paid out any funds: The State Department, the Department of Justice, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Smithsonian Institution have yet to spend any stimulus dollars.
The Department of Homeland Security has paid out $23,000. The Department of the Treasury has paid out $47,000. The Department of Energy has paid out $79,000. No zeroes are missing from those figures, unless erroneous information has been posted to the official government website tracking the spending.
The bill, as you will recall, was $787 billion. On the chart on Recovery.gov, $60 billion is available to these agencies this year.
For perspective, nationwide personal income decreased $29.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $10.5 billion, or 0.1 percent, in February, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Private wage and salary disbursements decreased $29.9 billion in February.
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