Transparency & Tracking
Transparency – Providing information on where the recovery money goes, how the money is being used and who benefits from that use in a clear and accessible way. more…
Collecting the race and gender of people hired by newly created jobs, providing information on where each funded project is taking place and how it will build a better future, accountability with mortgage foreclosure relief, including a report card to show that servicers are creating sustainable loan modifications under the Making Home Affordable Program, and releasing information on what assets the federal reserve is buying or loans they are making.
To the administration transparency has meant releasing aggregate numbers of dollars and giving general descriptions of what projects are being funded. True transparency must reach beyond the superficial and tell the public who is using our money and how is it benefiting us all. Transparency must include:
Accountability - Staying true to the American ideal of equality and ensuring that all Americans benefit from the enormous government investment that we have undertaken: more…:
- Accountability must mean more than knowing that the money is going where the recipients said it would go. It means actively promoting equality and targeting money to the people and programs most in need. There is no reason public officials should get a pass on the obligation to increase equality in America while overseeing the largest government investment in recent history. In fact, now more than ever public officials should be advocating for all voters, all tax payers, and all Americans.
This page includes information on recovery fund expenditures and concerns related to tracking and transparency.
Here’s how you can help:
Encouraging Tracking that Measures Equity
Another obstacle to understanding ARRA is determining which websites have the most credible information. The primary accountability authority throughout the allocation process is the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO is tasked with performing the most in-depth audit of ARRA, and publishes bimonthly reviews as a way of sharing its findings with the public. In addition to the GAO website, here are a few other credible sites for finding ARRA and other recovery data:
- http://www.gao.gov/recovery/
- http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/
- http://www.recovery.gov/
- http://www.usaspending.gov/
- https://www.fpds.gov/
- http://usmayors.org/recovery/
- CNNMoney.com’s Bailout Tracker
View Accountability Map in a larger map
click map to view MSNBC’s stimulus tracker
