Watchdog Group Seeks More Recovery Funding Oversight

Washington, July 13 — Since passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February, President Obama and his allies in Congress have sought to convince skeptics that stimulus dollars will be disbursed with greater transparency and accountability than any previous federal spending. But even as grants roll out and the Office of Management and Budget scrambles to write tough new rules for recipients on reporting how they have spent their funds, some critics say the government hasn't gone far enough to ensure taxpayers know where their money is going.

OMB began issuing guidance to federal agencies and prospective recipients of Recovery Act funds on how to manage stimulus funds only a day after President Obama signed the bill into law. Since then, the agency has followed up with two additional guidance letters, providing more-specific instructions for satisfying Section 1512 of the Recovery Act, which lists the data reporting requirements grantees must follow.