Investigating the stimulus

Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica

The stimulus touches nearly every beat

• Housing• Transportation• Community programs• Unemployment• Technology

Getting started

• What money is going to your community?– Education– Transportation– Weatherization

• Evaluating how it’s being spent– How is the money distributed?– Who is getting contracts?– What’s being fixed?

Some key federal sites• The bill: Breakdown of what was supposed to be

funded and rules of funding. (part A)• Recovery.gov – Main site for administration on

recovery – good for getting information on overall plan

• USAspending.gov – More on federal spending• Federal Procurement Data System – federal

contracts• Federal Agency recovery sites – Google the

agency name and “recovery”

Local information

• Check with state agencies to get information on projects

• Check with your local city or county to get information on projects there.

Sorting it all out• Every type of funding takes a

different path to the user.– FEDSTATECITYPROJECT– FEDRECIPIENT

• Find out what reports an agency must file – every type of project will require some report being filed

• You won’t know every final recipient. Data is only being released to two levels.

Sorting it all out

Not every dollar is reported on recovery.gov- Some programs are not required to report- Small awards don’t have to be reported- Direct awards, such as SBA loans aren’t reported

Sorting it all out

List of programs that require recipients to file 1512 (jobs) reports: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-21-supp1.pdf

Get much of detailed data on usaspending.gov

ProPublica’s tools

ProPublica’s tools

ProPublica’s tools

ProPublica’s tools

ProPublica’s tools

ProPublica’s tools

ProPublica’s tools

• Stimulus FAQ s• Stimulus tool kit -- Basics on getting

information on the stimulus

Backgrounding contractors

• Debarred federal contractors: https://www.epls.gov/epls/search.do

• Federal Audit Clearinghouse• OSHA: www.osha.gov• Check to see if your state has a debarred

contractors list• Check for your state’s database of complaints

against firms• Check your state auditor’s reports (ex: TX)

Checking on the ground

• Go to the job site and check:– Whether the project is actually up and running– The number of workers– Who the subcontractors are – check truck IDs or

licenses

Evaluating projects

• Federal bridge inspections – available from IRE• Dam inspections data – available from IRE,

and national inventory of dams• Census data – To adjust spending to per capita– to examine spending against demographics of

your community• Bureau of Labor Statistics – for unemployment

data

Getting demographic information

• Census data: Factfinder.census.gov – Use population estimates to get overall

population– Use the American Community Survey for

other variables

Other resources• Stories: www.ire.org/extraextra• Stories and data: www.stateline.org• Tip Sheets: www.ire.org• Public records questions: www.rcfp.org

Tools for working with data• Spreadsheets: Excel or Google

spreadsheets• Databases: Access• Interactive Graphics – Many Eyes• Mapping – Google maps, ArcView,

Many Eyes