American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Oversight

The House version of the American Recvery and Reinvestment Act fall under the restrictions of PAYGO. Congressional Republicans ended the PAYGO practice Democrats brought it back. John Kerry brought up PAYGO in the 2004 presidential debates.

KERRY: I'll tell you exactly how I can do it: by reinstating what President Bush took away, which is called pay as you go.

During the 1990s, we had pay-as-you-go rules. If you were going to pass something in the Congress, you had to show where you are going to pay for it and how.

President Bush has taken -- he's the only president in history to do this.

The catch is the stimulus package is labeled emergency spending. PAYGO will not apply. After years of George W. Bush, I was shocked to see PAYGO mentioned in a bill.

The House bill will appoint special Inspector Generals to oversee how stimulus money is spent. The Congressional Budget Office and cabinet Inspector Generals have been given revenue to oversee stimulus program funding.

No money will be used for "any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, or swimming pool." Only U.S. steel and iron will be used for infrastructure projects. These projects are "airports, bridges, canals, dams, dikes, pipelines, railroads, multiline mass transit systems, roads, tunnels, harbors, and piers."

The House bill's language is clear on how oversight will work.

SEC. 1201. TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS.

(a) REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES.—
Each Federal agency shall publish on the website Recovery.gov (as established under section 1226 of this subtitle)—

(1) a plan for using funds made available in this Act to the agency; and
(2) all announcements for grant competitions, allocations of formula grants, and awards of competitive grants using those funds.

(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.—

(1) INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT FUNDING.— With respect to funds made available undermthis 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 Recovery.gov a description of the intended use of the funds, including the number of jobs sustained or created.

(c) 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 re25
dacted before posting.

SEC. 1202. INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEWS.

(a) REVIEWS.—Any inspector general of a Federal department or executive agency shall review, as appropriate, any concerns raised by the public about specific investments using funds made available in this Act. Any findings of an inspector general resulting from such a review shall be relayed immediately to the head of each department and agency. In addition, the findings of such reviews, along with any audits conducted by any inspector general of funds made available in this Act, shall be posted on the Internet and linked to the website Recovery.gov.

(b) EXAMINATION OF RECORDS.—The Inspector General of the agency concerned may examine any records related to obligations of funds made available in this Act.

I have never seen a bill with this level of oversight. Democrats have written many safeguards into the bill's language. The Treasury Department, Council of Economic Advisers, and Office of Budget and Management will submit quarterly reports to Congress. I could challenge Republicans for a GOP sponsored bill with this level of oversight. I know the bill doesn't exist.

There will be a transparency board. They will submit quarterly reports to President Obama and Congress.

SEC. 1222. COMPOSITION OF BOARD.

(a) MEMBERSHIP.—The Board shall be composed of seven members as follows:
(1) The Chief Performance Officer of the President, who shall chair the Board.
(2) Six members designated by the President from the inspectors general and deputy secretaries of the Departments of Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and other Federal departments and agencies to which funds are made available in this Act.

(b) TERMS.—Each member of the Board shall serve for a term to be determined by the President.

Congress will receive reports from the transparency board, Treasury Department, Council of Economic Advisers, and Office of Budget and Management. This is the way government should run.