Excerpt from Remarks by the Vice President at the First Recovery Plan Implementation Meeting:
We have got to make sure that we hold as many people accountable, not in a draconian way, but to actually get this done. And up to now, you've never had to -- we've never had to sort of follow the dollar -- follow the dollar beyond where we ordinarily -- other than meeting the criteria, does the state, the county, and the city qualify for it; we cut the check. Well, we're going to be more intrusive than that on cutting the check.
And so every person that any federal dollar flows through has a responsibility to see it's used well. And so it's the fact that millions of Americans are struggling just to get by, that this should be an incentive to ensure that the money we spend is spent well.
And I told the governors -- and maybe it's because I'm a little too blunt -- but I told the governors and told the mayors -- who I think have the best intentions in the world; they know how badly it's needed -- Republican governors and Democratic governors -- but we may sometimes not have the legal authority once we cut the check to do much about it. But I'll tell you what, the moral disapprobation of this office will be used if the money is not being out there spent. I'm going to go on television and say, we gave so-and-so X amount of dollars and nothing is happening -- why hasn't it happened?
Remarks
Reports
100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion (June 2009)
Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. , Ranking Republican, Senate Permanent Select Committee on Investigations
Recovery Report: 100 Days, 100 Projects (May 2009)
News Stories
What Happened to the Stimulus?
Sen. Coburn questions 100 stimulus projects
Stimulus program fraught with waste, report says
Politics Get a Stimulus at 100-Day Mark
Biden says some waste inevitable part of stimulus
Biden offers rosy outlook in first quarterly stimulus report
Administration projects strong stimulus job growth
U.S. stimulus to save 3.5 million jobs by end 2010: official