Stimulus Aid Is Said to Be Moving Faster

[Cant trust em]

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration says it has been on a "learning curve" with the economic-stimulus package but has figured out how to spend some of the available billions more quickly.

Many tax cuts, which account for about one-third of the $787 billion package, have already taken effect. But only $60.4 billion of the remaining $499 billion has been spent. Most of the money was always likely to be spent this summer at the earliest as departments wrestled with the increased workload and new requirements imposed by the bill.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124726164222024959.html#mod=rss_US_News

[lindisfarne]

1. For those who set up the stimulus package, it was clear that some things were going to be more easy

to implement than others. Payroll tax cuts, medicare additions, could be implemented quite quickly.
Infrastructure spending, however, had to go through federal & state bureaucracy.
The Minneapolis paper had an article on these factors just recently; some other relevant links as well are in this thread (will provide additional info to the short WSJ article):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8522098

[bluestateguy]

2. In the past, environmental groups have tied up infrastructure spending in the courts

with various lawsuits and other procedural red tape.

They have refrained from doing that this time, and I thank them for that.

[lindisfarne]

4. Most of the infrastructure spending in the stimulus package isn't for things that will require

environmental studies. It's things like repairing roads, bridges, etc.

[NBachers]

3. So . . . any shovels moving on those "shovel ready" projects?

[lindisfarne]

5. Read the link in #1.n/t

[Cant trust em]

6. Yes.

Highway 80 in California is being repaved with stimulus funding.

Hell, apparently you're from San Francisco. Check out recoverysf.org to see the stimulus projects that are going on here in the city.

[NBachers]

7. I'm going over there now

Thanks for the info -

[Cant trust em]

8. THe site runs a little slow, but there's some good info.

It's a little Newsom-centric, but it gets the job done.

[orleans]

9. a road paving project of over $3 million dollars (near my house)

has been completed as of several weeks ago.