President Obama has promised to track every last dime of stimulus spending to insure that money is being spent effectively, with the greatest impact, and with minimal fraud and waste.
GREAT! Taxpayers should be praising the President's principled stand on accountability.
BUT, tracking the funds is looking like an enormous challenge. A worthy challenge, but monumental nevertheless.
President Obama's point man on this, Earl Devaney, sums it up, ""The federal government's systems have never been fully successful at producing timely and reliable data," Devaney said. "Add to that problem the difficulty of transmitting and reporting data up through multiple layers of government ... and you begin to understand the basis for my concern."
Devaney's goal is "Today's comments mirrored Devaney's recent statements to state and local officials regarding his plans to establish an easy-to-use, one-stop Web site for citizens, companies and reporters seeking ways to track federal funds."
With stimulus funds already going out, I sincerely hope that he can implement his goal quickly. If not, it could prove not only to be detrimental to the economic effect of the stimulus, but a political liability for the President.
More on stimulus funds tracking challenges here and here.
Cross-posted at MyDD.com