Spend it now, but spend it smart.
Those are the orders issued to the nation’s governors and mayors by President Obama, who is convinced his bold economic recovery and stimulus plan must go to work quickly to jolt the economy out of its scary spiral.
Haste makes waste, though, and nowhere is that more true than government. The sheer size of the $787 billion recovery and stimulus bill offers countless opportunities for waste, corruption and fraud. So it’s important, and a refreshing departure from business as usual, to see the president raising expectations for an unprecedented accountability effort.
Speaking last week to a group of mayors, who will be responsible for directing billions in infrastructure spending, Obama took a harsh tone. He said he would not hesitate to “call out” local, state and federal agencies that propose spending the money wastefully.
He told a joint session of Congress Tuesday that Vice President Joe Biden would be in charge of tracking how the money is used, and Biden said Wednesday that if he finds decision makers going off course, he’ll “embarrass them into doing what they are supposed to do.”
Biden will have data to back him up. All agencies dealing with stimulus money — federal, state and local — will have to follow detailed rules in reporting how it’s spent. That information will then be displayed at recovery.gov, a Web site where citizens can follow the money. Assuming what’s presented is understandable, wasteful spending will be hard to hide. Daylight is a terrific deterrent to shady dealing.
Another welcome element of Obama’s Tuesday speech was his pronouncement that deficit reduction remains a long-term priority. Hard as that may be to swallow as trillions in new spending are heading out the door, it’s heartening to hear a president call for ending education programs “that don’t work” and stopping payments to huge agricultural businesses “that don’t need them.” He said his administration has already identified some $2 trillion to cut over the 10 years; we look forward to hearing specifics.
This president clearly isn’t shy about setting high expectations. When it comes to accountability, he’s laid down a marker from which there’s no backing away, which is smart: Given the severity of this recession, he’s likely to come back to Congress for more — in stimulus, aid to the financial sector, or both. He’ll need popular support, and he’ll only get it most Americans believe previous dollars haven’t gone down the drain.
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