Blog - Recovery.gov 
Recovery.gov
January 15, 2009 - by Donny Shaw
The website picture above – Recovery.gov – will soon be transformed into a database for information on new spending originating from the $825 billion economic stimulus package. This part of Congress’s effort to bring “a historic level of transparency, oversight and accountability” to the stimulus so that “taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and Americans can see results for their investment,” as stated in the draft summary. Below is the mandate to build the site contained in the House’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (.pdf):
>SEC. 1226. RECOVERY.GOV.
>
>(a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH WEBSITE.— The Board shall establish and maintain a website on the Internet to be named Recovery.gov, to foster greater accountability and transparency in the use of funds made avail1able in this Act.
>
>(b) PURPOSE.—Recovery.gov shall be a portal or gateway to key information related to this Act and provide a window to other Government websites with related information.
>
>© MATTERS COVERED.—In establishing the website Recovery.gov, the Board shall ensure the following:
>
>(1) The website shall provide materials explaining what this Act means for citizens. The materials shall be easy to understand and regularly updated.
(2) The website shall provide accountability information, including a database of findings from audits, inspectors general, and the Government Accountability Office.
(3) The website shall provide data on relevant economic, financial, grant, and contract information in user-friendly visual presentations to enhance public awareness of the use funds made available in this Act.
(4) The website shall provide detailed data on contracts awarded by the Government for purposes of carrying out this Act, including information about the competitiveness of the contracting process, noti1fication of solicitations for contracts to be awarded, and information about the process that was used for the award of contracts.
(5) The website shall include printable reports on funds made available in this Act obligated by month to each State and congressional district.
(6) The website shall provide a means for the public to give feedback on the performance of contracts awarded for purposes of carrying out this Act.
(7) The website shall be enhanced and updated as necessary to carry out the purposes of this subtitle.
And here are some more specifics from the bill text on exactly what information is going to have to be posted:
>(1) INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT FUNDING.—
>
>With respect to funds made available under this Act for infrastructure investments to Federal, State, or local government agencies, the following requirements apply:
>
>(A) Each such agency shall notify the public of funds obligated to particular infrastructure investments by posting the notification on the website Recovery.gov.
(B) The notification required by subparagraph (A) shall include the following:
>
>(i) A description of the infrastructure investment funded.
(ii) The purpose of the infrastructure investment.
(iii) The total cost of the infrastructure investment.
(iv) The rationale of the agency for funding the infrastructure investment with funds made available under this Act.
(v) The name of the person to contact at the agency if there are concerns with the infrastructure investment and, with respect to Federal agencies, an email address for the Federal official in the agency whom the public can contact.
(vi) In the case of State or local agencies, a certification from the Governor, mayor, or other chief executive, as appropriate, that the infrastructure investment has received the full review and vetting required by law and that the chief executive accepts responsibility that the infrastructure investment is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. A State or local agency may not receive infrastructure investment funding from funds made available in this Act unless this certification is made.
>
>(2) OPERATIONAL FUNDING.—
>
>With respect to funds made available under this Act in the form of grants for operational purposes to State or local government agencies or other organizations, the agency or organization shall publish on the website Recoery.gov a description of the intended use of the funds, including the number of jobs sustained or created.
>
>© AVAILABILITY ON INTERNET OF CONTRACTS AND GRANTS.—Each contract awarded or grant issued using funds made available in this Act shall be posted on the Internet and linked to the website Recovery.gov. Proprietary data that is required to be kept confidential under applicable Federal or State law or regulation shall be redacted before posting.
Get Blog Updates by Email
Find us at
Send Us a Tip
-
I've been watching a lot of...
Submitted by Robert Schwartzman on Dec 9
-
Proposed Bill HR-2674 Prote...
Submitted by Mary on Jun 16
-
Amendment No. 601 to the Om...
Submitted by Winifred on Mar 3
You can submit a tip anonymously, or attributed to your own name and e-mail, whichever you prefer. Read more about submitting a tip.
Recent Posts
- The Negotiations Will be Televised February 08, 2010
- Snow Day February 08, 2010
- The Week In Review February 05, 2010
- Bipartisan Financial Reform Talk... February 05, 2010
- Just One Republican for Condemni... February 05, 2010
Archives
See All ArchivesBlogroll
- The Baseline Scenario
- Capital Eye
- The Caucus
- CBO Director's Blog
- Congress Matters
- The Corner
- Crooks and Liars
- FiveThirtyEight
- The Gaggle
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hot Air
- Huffington Post
- Instapundit
- Irregular Times
- Ezra Klein
- Little Sis
- The Moderate Voice
- My DD
- The Next Right
- OMB Watch
- Open House Project
- Open Left
- The Page
- Party Time
- Plum Line
- Political Animal
- Political Wire
- ProPublica
- Real Clear Politics
- Real Time Investigations
- RedState
- Senatus
- Andrew Sullivan
- Sunlight Foundation Blog
- Talking Points Memo
- Glenn Thrush
- The Treatment
- The Washington Independent
- The Weekly Standard
- Wonk Room
- Matthew Yglesias
Sort By
Comments ?
What's this?
OpenCongress comment boards are an open forum for discussion. Let's build public knowledge about Congress together, so please keep the discussion civil -- no harsh language, subject to our community Comment Policy. Do not post any information here (for example, your name or email) that you do not wish to be public.
Filter Comments to a Rating of at least
What's this?
The Ratings Filter allows you to determine how many user comments to view on pages here on OpenCongress. Setting the filter higher (towards 10) allows you to see only the comments rated "most helpful" by users, while setting the filter lower (towards 0) allows you to see more comments on a page.
Displaying 1-30 of 41 total comments.
Well,Obama is not a bad politician but I did not vote for Obama but i hope I vote for him in 4 years....
============
Shelly kane
<a href="http://mls.fastrealestate.net" rel="dofollow">mls search</a>
great blog nice post!!!!
<a href="http://www.aphweb.co.uk/">Vacuum forming</a> and <a href="http://www.aphweb.co.uk/cadcam.html">CAD/CAM</a>CAD/CAM, APHWEB provide high specification work, working from drawings and models using modern and traditional methods.
<a href="http://www.metro.co.uk/sport">Sports News</a>
http://www.metro.co.uk/sport
The Payday Loan Reform Act is now in getting infamous and well reported by those who have knowledge about the news, definitely with banks that will have market share on short-term credit and online cash advances. However, the Payday Loan Reform Act, currently making its way through Congress, has some critics, some of which are respectable business authorities, who insist that it will leave consumers with alternatives that aren't exactly palatable. Studies have indicated that at least 50% of payday loan users considered credit cards and other options first. This means that the same banks responsible for the financial collapse and recession stand to gain a monopoly through the <a rev="Vote for" title="Payday Loan Reform Act Leaves Customers with Bad Alternatives" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/04/14/payday-loan-reform-act-leaves-customers-bad-alternatives/">Payday Loan Reform Act</a>, which is not a reform most people would be for if they thought about it.
The Payday Loan Reform Act is now in getting infamous and well reported by those who have knowledge about the news, definitely with banks that will have market share on short-term credit and online cash advances. However, the Payday Loan Reform Act, currently making its way through Congress, has some critics, some of which are respectable business authorities, who insist that it will leave consumers with alternatives that aren't exactly palatable. Studies have indicated that at least 50% of payday loan users considered credit cards and other options first. This means that the same banks responsible for the financial collapse and recession stand to gain a monopoly through the <a rev="Vote for" title="Payday Loan Reform Act Leaves Customers with Bad Alternatives" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/04/14/payday-loan-reform-act-leaves-customers-bad-alternatives/">Payday Loan Reform Act</a>, which is not a reform most people would be for if they thought about it.
So far the Obama administration is in the right track, but change cannot happen unless we focus on creating a rule that will regulate the business sector. There should be an oversight on how big corporation operate whether their capital came from their own pocket or from the aid of the government. The corporate management should not be allowed to get rich from the sweat, tears and brain of the working class who is actually the brain and energy of the business. I know I am one of those working class. It doesn't make sense that those CEO be given a privilege to save their company just because the effect of their failure will affect many and they get to keep their job and their money. If that's the case, people should not trust their company and just keep their hard earned money themselves. It's an outright abuse of the the people's trust while these thieves lives in luxury.
Preident Obama please stop pork barrel spending as you promised. The American people cry out stop now.
President Obama please stop pork barrel spending as you promised.American people cry out to end this know.
the states get enough money work income tax utility tax car/drivers license tax cigerate,gas,alcohol,property tax,luxury items tax, book newspaper mazazine pet tax lottery i can go on an on and where does this money go i like to see a state buget list where the state i colletting in all tax state wide and list where it is going to all these years i am thinking the money is going into someone pocket and i still think that the money the federal gov gave to the bank and wall st went into someone pockets not the american working people pockets we are the one funding big shots to get rich
OK, so go to the graph on recovery.gov. You will see an asterisk next to the Tax Relief part of the graph. The graph states that 288 billion dollars will go to Tax Relief. If you follow the asterisk, you find that 123 billion dollars of that Tax Relief got spread out through the other categories. Leaving only 165 billion dollars in Tax Relief. This is deceiving and needs to be changed. I ask that you all email them, as I have, and tell them to explain it or change it. I know that most people will see the graph and think that most of the money is going to Tax Relief, and never find out that it is not the case.
what happened to all thie stimulus money that the banks got to help forclosers it is a shame the ceo's put the money in their pocket and should pay that money back to the federal government and then decide how this money should be used these big banks ceo's ripped the american tax payers off and should be punished
where is all this lottery money going taht the states are gettinh
Recovery.gov isn't enough to ensure we, the taxpayers, are ensure the dollars go to spending programs that produce longer term return on our investment (i.e. permanent jobs, improved productivity, local economic impacts, improve energy efficiency, et.). This would be the missing 'strategy' behind the spending.
However, take a look at what's coming on www.stimulusscorecard.com. I've talked to the principals and they are working with local governments who will be getting the money and convincing them to post periodic performance measures on program implementation (on-time, on-budget) and longer term payback (economic improvements, energy improvements).
It seems the difference is that recovery.gov is the after-the-fact auditing report to go after fraud and abuses, and stimulusscorecard.com is the program level reporting based on the strategies behind the spending.
After all, I don't want our money spent on lame ideas with no payback. I actually want it to help, measurably.
Hope has become a reality, the meaning "United We Stand" has merit finally! smascotti@gmail.com
Get real. Whose United?? The useful idiots(liberal Demorats)? Oh, don"t let me forget the RINOS too. Fear was used to pass this STIMULUS not hope. Kool-aid for everyone !
I need recovery too! Help me by donating at my website! http://DonateABuckOrTwo.com Just a few bucks can help a lot! Read more on the web site. Thanks!
There is nothing on this site.It will only be published AFTER it is passed. Why can't we see it before it is passed? AFTER THE FACT IS TOO LATE!
If you saw it BEFORE you would start a new revolution. We are becoming the sheeple of the United Socialist States of America. Spread the news not the wealth !
In the campaign you vowed to "slay the demons of Washington" and bar lobbyists from your administration. You gave a 9 page 61 question questionnaire to prospective appointees. It is very obvious that some our your appointees did not get the questionnaire. Question numbers 3,4,5,15,19,33,34,35,36, and 55. If I read your questionnaire correctly some of your appointees are suspect in their answers to your questionnaire. What I am getting at is your "change" is just as bad if not worse than the past.
I have a novel idea for stimulating the economy and getting people back to work. Let's bring the "OUTSOURCED" jobs back to America. Give tax breaks for bringing them back, giving bigger breaks for speed in getting them here and up and running. If businesses don't want to bring the jobs back, then tax the businesses extra taxes that will make it unprofitable to outsource their products and services.
The transparency is missing. I want to see the entire package. Right now, nothing sounds viable: just bits and pieces. People need jobs and money now; not four to ten years down the Pike when maybe some of these political boon-dogs will or will not generate jobs and income for citizens. Banks and Big Business should be on their own. Sod replacement on a mall most of us will never see, while a majority of people cannot afford neccessities of life and are losing their homes, is not my idea of boosting the economy.
Connie from Michigan
The transparency is missing. I want to see the entire package. Right now, nothing sounds viable: just bits and pieces. People need jobs and money now; not four to ten years down the Pike when maybe some of these political boon-dogs will or will not generate jobs and income for citizens. Banks and Big Business should be on their own. Sod replacement on a mall most of us will never see, while a majority of people cannot afford neccessities of life and are losing their homes, is not my idea of boosting the economy.
Connie from Michigan
I totally agree with you. Nobody in congress read the entire bill. It was totally impossible unless one could read 650 words per minute. Upset about sod on the mall? How about 30 million going to Nancy Pelosi's district to save the SALT MARSH HARVEST MOUSE. Check-it- out.
I see that ACORN will be getting indirectly, slipped through the transparency catch phrase, $4.19 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities." How does this make jobs Mr. President? hopefully this will not be part of the economic stimulus proposal working its way through the House.
Moderated Comment
Moderated Comment
the FFATA web site only lists funds used in contracts or grants. it does not list operating expenditures or other such departmental costs.
Unfortunately, I was unable to vote for President Obama, but I had helped with his campaign over the summer. I'm glad to see that next year when I head off to college, and beyond I will know exactly how my future dollars will be spent.
How is this different than the existing FFATA website (http://www.ffata.org/ffata/) which allows searching of ALL spending, not just 'stimulus' items?
Yeah, that one came online under Bush, but at the request of open-government types. I just hope this isn't a distraction from the existing work, or they work in tandem...