Posted on 01/26/2013 6:42:17 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Have you heard much about President Obamas $787,000,000,000 economic stimulus (now estimated to cost $831,000,000,000) lately? In its last report, published in 2011, the presidents own Council of Economic Advisors released an estimate showing that, for every $317,000 in stimulus spending that had by then gone out the door, only one job had been created or saved. Even in Washington, thats not considered good bang for the buck.
Moreover, that was the fifth consecutive stimulus report that showed this number getting progressively worse.
Alas, that was the last report weve seen. Never mind that Section 1513 of the stimulus legislation, which Obama spearheaded and signed into law, requires the executive branch to submit a new report every three months. It reads:
In consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisers shall submit quarterly reports to the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and House of Representatives that detail the impact of programs funded through covered funds on employment, estimated economic growth, and other key economic indicators.
(The head of the Council of Economic Advisors, currently Alan Krueger, is appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and works in the Executive Office of the President. He is the presidents chief economic adviser.)
Indeed, the old reports that the administration released begin, As part of the unprecedented accountability and transparency provisions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 [the stimulus], the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) was charged with providing to Congress quarterly reports on the effects of the Recovery Act on overall economic activity, and on employment in particular.
Section 1513 further specifies, The first report shall be submitted not later than 45 days after the end of the first full quarter following the date of enactment of this Act .The last report required to be submitted shall apply to the quarter in which the [Recovery Accountability and Transparency] Board terminates under section 1530. Section 1530 declares, The Board shall terminate on September 30, 2013.
In other words, the Obama administration is required by law to submit quarterly reports on the stimulus through the third quarter of 2013. By now, it was supposed to have released fourteen such reports. It has released only eight. The last one covered the period ending in June 2011. Thats right 2011.
With only 58.6 percent of Americans currently employed down 2.4 percent from the time of Obamas first inauguration its not surprising that the Obama administration doesnt really want to fulfill it legal responsibilities and release subsequent reports on its failed stimulus. However, it hardly seems fair to use one of Obamas favorite words that the rich and (extremely) powerful think that they can choose whether or not to abide by the laws they spearhead and sign, while the rest of us are forced to obey them.
Perhaps its time for the rich and powerful to do their fair share and obey the laws that they enforce against others. And perhaps this is something that the House of Representatives might want to look into.
Heck, they could've gotten pretty much the same results by just hiring a bunch of people to sit on their butts full time for 7 or 8 years.
When the MSM gets wind of this, they are going to rip the Obama Administration a new one....Oh, wait. Nevermind.
Laws...we don’t need no steeeeenkin’ laws!
Do you remember that crazy uncle Joe was put in charge of monitoring the stimulus funds?
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