The potential for abuse in a program of this magnitude, while operating at such a fast pace, was enormous. So I asked Vice President Biden and others to make sure to the extent humanly possible that the investments were sound, the projects worthy, and the execution efficient. What this means is that we're going to see even more work—and workers—on recovery projects in the next six months than we saw in the last six months.
Even so, there are many more worthy projects than there were dollars to fund them.
Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's pollster in 2008.
Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.
Burson-Marsteller won the contract to work on a public-relations campaign to advertise the national switch from analog to digital television.
Harrumph, says the administration!
"In the end, even if there are a few unwise projects, it is only a handful out of the over 50,000 projects that have been approved to date," said Liz Oxhorn, a White House spokeswoman. "The real question here is whether Recovery Act critics will at long last acknowledge that well over 99 percent of the projects are sound, effective and working as promised."
