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States rushing to meet stimulus deadline
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08/22/09 01:18 PM ET
State budget officers fear that their first report on stimulus spending due in October won't live up to the Obama administration's lofty transparency goals.
The states must file official reports to the federal government on how they've spent their portions of the $787 billion stimulus by Oct. 10. The reports, to be made public on the White House's stimulus website, Recovery.gov, are key to the pledge made by President Barack Obama in February to let Americans "see where and how we're spending every dime."
But state officials rushing to meet the reporting deadline said the data won't be complete.
"We're very concerned, and everybody involved in this is," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.
The information in October should give taxpayers a sense of where their money is going. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said that the information should help answer who's receiving stimulus money, how much they're getting, what projects are being undertaken, how far those projects along, and whether those projects created or saved jobs.
But Pattison and state officials tracking the stimulus warned that some of the information won't be available by then.
"They're just going to do the best they can and as much as they can," said Pattison.
One major obstacle will be the short amount of time state agencies have to report on the spending. Due on October 10 will be up-to-date information on stimulus projects through the end of September.
"The turnaround is incredibly quick," said Kristi Lafleur, deputy chief of staff to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D).
States' concerns about the reporting date had prompted the White House to push back its initial July 10 deadline by three months.
Illinois is conducting "test runs" to prepare for the reporting deadline, said Lafleur. She noted that agencies haven't done something on this scale before.
"We’re committed to transparency and we’re committed to accuracy, and it’s definitely going to be a different approach to reporting than we’ve encountered before," she said.
The unprecedented nature of the stimulus reporting is another obstacle.
Jack Kreinheder, executive policy analyst for Alaska's budget office, said that officials in federal agencies have had their own kinks to work out. Kreinheder said he received e-mails from one agency, the Envronmental Protection Agency, asking him for the same data that OMB said it would collect.
"We kind of sympathize with the federal officials," Kreinheder said. "They’ve been trying to scramble to put this reporting process in place."
OMB spokesman Tom Gavin said that the administration has been working closely with recipients of stimulus money to help prepare them for the October deadline.
"We'll continue to answer questions and help with information and guidance in advance of the October reporting in an effort to give the American people the clearest look at what is happening with recovery dollars in their local communities," Gavin said.
Once the data comes in, stimulus watchers should get a better sense of the stimulus's effectiveness. The White House has said that the $787 billion package has created or saved 150,000 in its first six months and should create or save another 600,000 over the second six months. But those numbers have been based on economic formulas. The stimulus data will aim to provide a hard count of new or saved jobs, state officials said.
"You're reaching into the front-line source of individuals who are actually spending recovery act money as opposed to being particularly reliant on macroeconomic models," said Gerry Oligmueller, the state budget administrator for Nebraska.
But the jobs data may vary because each state has different ways of defining what a job saved or created is. For instance, one state could tally a new job when a worker works 30 hours a week on a stimulus project, while another state could require that a new job only comes when a worker puts in at least 40 hours, said Craig Jennings, a senior policy analyst at OMBWatch.
The jobs data could also be at odds with jobs estimates by White House economists, who have touted job creation and retention as a major benefit of the stimulus, Jennings said.
"It's going to become a big political football that's going to be kicked around a lot," Jennings said.
Despite worries about the first stimulus reports in October, Jennings hopes that officials can build on it to provide more comprehensive stimulus data in January, when the next round of reports are due.
"[The October numbers] aren't going to really hit that high bar transparency that the administration has set, but that's I think to be expected at this point," Jennings said. "What's going to be interesting is the reports in subsequent quarters."
The states must file official reports to the federal government on how they've spent their portions of the $787 billion stimulus by Oct. 10. The reports, to be made public on the White House's stimulus website, Recovery.gov, are key to the pledge made by President Barack Obama in February to let Americans "see where and how we're spending every dime."
"We're very concerned, and everybody involved in this is," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.
The information in October should give taxpayers a sense of where their money is going. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said that the information should help answer who's receiving stimulus money, how much they're getting, what projects are being undertaken, how far those projects along, and whether those projects created or saved jobs.
But Pattison and state officials tracking the stimulus warned that some of the information won't be available by then.
"They're just going to do the best they can and as much as they can," said Pattison.
One major obstacle will be the short amount of time state agencies have to report on the spending. Due on October 10 will be up-to-date information on stimulus projects through the end of September.
"The turnaround is incredibly quick," said Kristi Lafleur, deputy chief of staff to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D).
States' concerns about the reporting date had prompted the White House to push back its initial July 10 deadline by three months.
Illinois is conducting "test runs" to prepare for the reporting deadline, said Lafleur. She noted that agencies haven't done something on this scale before.
"We’re committed to transparency and we’re committed to accuracy, and it’s definitely going to be a different approach to reporting than we’ve encountered before," she said.
The unprecedented nature of the stimulus reporting is another obstacle.
Jack Kreinheder, executive policy analyst for Alaska's budget office, said that officials in federal agencies have had their own kinks to work out. Kreinheder said he received e-mails from one agency, the Envronmental Protection Agency, asking him for the same data that OMB said it would collect.
"We kind of sympathize with the federal officials," Kreinheder said. "They’ve been trying to scramble to put this reporting process in place."
OMB spokesman Tom Gavin said that the administration has been working closely with recipients of stimulus money to help prepare them for the October deadline.
"We'll continue to answer questions and help with information and guidance in advance of the October reporting in an effort to give the American people the clearest look at what is happening with recovery dollars in their local communities," Gavin said.
Once the data comes in, stimulus watchers should get a better sense of the stimulus's effectiveness. The White House has said that the $787 billion package has created or saved 150,000 in its first six months and should create or save another 600,000 over the second six months. But those numbers have been based on economic formulas. The stimulus data will aim to provide a hard count of new or saved jobs, state officials said.
But the jobs data may vary because each state has different ways of defining what a job saved or created is. For instance, one state could tally a new job when a worker works 30 hours a week on a stimulus project, while another state could require that a new job only comes when a worker puts in at least 40 hours, said Craig Jennings, a senior policy analyst at OMBWatch.
The jobs data could also be at odds with jobs estimates by White House economists, who have touted job creation and retention as a major benefit of the stimulus, Jennings said.
"It's going to become a big political football that's going to be kicked around a lot," Jennings said.
Despite worries about the first stimulus reports in October, Jennings hopes that officials can build on it to provide more comprehensive stimulus data in January, when the next round of reports are due.
"[The October numbers] aren't going to really hit that high bar transparency that the administration has set, but that's I think to be expected at this point," Jennings said. "What's going to be interesting is the reports in subsequent quarters."
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