Oversight??? Stimulus??? Me no understand.

I am a person with little to no economic knowledge, so I have stayed out of the “stimulus” discussion. Recently reviewing the line items for it I noticed every category had money dedicated to “oversight.”


So they are spending money on oversight. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but maybe if they had spent more than a day reviewing and finalizing the bill then it would be a bit clearer as to where the money was to go? My opinion is yes.

Where is the $232.5 million going? PLEASE, where? And excuse me but isn’t Congress supposed to provide oversight on what they put forward. Remember the complaining from, none other then, Speaker Pelosi about wanting oversight…when they already had it?

This all brings us back to “oversight.” Excuse me but I seem to remember someone, no something, no some group…what was its name again?

About GAO

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. The head of GAO, the Comptroller General of the United States, is appointed to a 15-year term by the President from a slate of candidates Congress proposes. Gene L. Dodaro became Acting Comptroller General of the United States on March 13, 2008, succeeding David M. Walker, who appointed him upon resigning. Mr. Dodaro will serve in this position until the President nominates and the Senate confirms a successor from a list of candidates proposed by the Congress.

Our Mission is to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. We provide Congress with timely information that is objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, fair, and balanced.

Our Core Values of accountability, integrity, and reliability are reflected in all of the work we do. We operate under strict professional standards of review and referencing; all facts and analyses in our work are thoroughly checked for accuracy.

Our Work is done at the request of congressional committees or subcommittees or is mandated by public laws or committee reports. We also undertake research under the authority of the Comptroller General. We support congressional oversight by

o auditing agency operations to determine whether federal funds are being spent efficiently and effectively;
o investigating allegations of illegal and improper activities;
o reporting on how well government programs and policies are meeting their objectives;
o performing policy analyses and outlining options for congressional consideration; and
o issuing legal decisions and opinions, such as bid protest rulings and reports on agency rules.

We advise Congress and the heads of executive agencies about ways to make government more efficient, effective, ethical, equitable and responsive.

Our work leads to laws and acts that improve government operations, saving the government and taxpayers billions of dollars.

Oh, so there is already an entire office dedicated to oversight? Just one right? Oh but that is not also including the Congressional Budget Office:

CBO Fact Sheet

CBO's mandate is to provide the Congress with:

--Objective, nonpartisan, and timely analyses to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on the wide array of programs covered by the federal budget and

--The information and estimates required for the Congressional budget process.

So the Congress has, on top of their staff, two entire offices to formulate briefs on Government programs and spending. Congress has the means to do this themselves, but instead they are taking their paycheck and then as part of the stimulus bill paying others to do their jobs. I think, like I said still confused on where this money is going and how it will be used to oversee said programs.

Out of $787 billion .03% (approx) is being spent on oversight, and even better yet...even though every category has money being spent on it for oversight, $25,000,000 is being spent on "Oversight of economic recovery package." So some of this "stimulus" bill is actually being spent on oversight, of oversight. *shaking head*

And I will leave you with some other categories (in this bill) compare that to the $25 million:

Military	Army child development centers	$80
Military	Army "warrior transition complexes"	$100
Military	Navy and Marine Corps troop housing	$100
Military	Navy and Marine Corps child development centers	$80
Military	Navy and Marine Corps energy conservation and alternative energy projects	$100
Military	Air Force troop housing	$100
Military	Air Force child development centers	$80
Military	Defense hospital construction	$1,330
Military	Defense energy conservation investments	$120
Military	Army National Guard construction	$50
Military	Air National Guard construction	$50
Military	Army family housing construction and repairs	$38.439
Military	Air Force family housing construction	$96.561
Military	Programs for military homeowners facing mortgage problems	$555
Veterans	Improvements to Veterans Affairs benefits administration, IT and claims processing	$200
Veterans	Renovations and energy efficiency improvements to veterans medical facilities	$1,000
Veterans	Grants for construction of state extended care facilities for veterans	$150
Veterans	National Cemetery renovations and repairs	$50