The Associated Press – Under the Obama administration’s economic stimulus plan, needy communities were supposed to be a priority when doling out money to rebuild highways and jump-start the economy.
It hasn’t worked out that way.
The rules required that states give priority to counties considered “economically distressed.” Yet less than half the federal highway money announced so far is directed toward those high-unemployment, low-income areas, according to an Associated Press analysis of more than $16 billion in spending announced by the U.S. Transportation Department.
What was supposed to be a way to steer money to hard-hit areas has turned into a coin flip: 53 percent of the money is going to counties that don’t meet the federal standard of economically distressed areas. Those are places where lasting unemployment is higher than the national average or where income is significantly lower than the rest of the country.
“If economically distressed areas get the money, it’s just by coincidence,” said Democratic state Rep. Jim Dunnam, chairman of a committee overseeing Texas’ use of stimulus money.
Just days after Obama signed the law, Texas transportation officials testified before Dunnam’s committee that economic conditions were not a factor in their selection process. Since then, more than 200 Texas projects have started receiving almost $1.2 billion in federal stimulus money. Just 44 percent has gone to counties considered economically distressed.
“You do want to lean in on areas that need that help,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. [read more...]
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