MADISON – After overseeing transparency and accountability of the massive $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, tracking waste, fraud and abuse in a $60 billion superstorm relief package should be a breeze.
The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which has spent the past four years serving as the point agency dealing with oversight of the President Obama-led stimulus package, is re-enlisting, ready to provide similar oversight of the Superstorm Sandy recovery effort.
The board had been scheduled to sunset Sept. 30, the close of the federal fiscal calendar. Congress and the president had other plans, however, extending the board’s operations for another two years to coordinate oversight of the $60.2 billion aid program for hurricane victims.
“The Board will work closely with Congress, the (Inspector General) community, and federal agencies to carry out that mission,” Kathleen S. Tighe, chairwoman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, wrote in her 2012 report.
Created by Congress in February 2009, the board has tracked more than $800 billion in stimulus funding. From early 2009 to Dec. 31, 2012, prosecutors have obtained 846 convictions, judgments or settlements in stimulus-related cases, according to Tighe’s report. The dollar loss is pegged at $27.9 million.
“Additionally, IG audit teams conducted more than 2,600 audits, inspections, evaluations, and reviews on Recovery activities,” the report states. “Questioned costs from audits: $4.6 billion.”
As of the most recent posting, Wisconsin entities had been awarded $4.68 billion in stimulus funding, $3.7 billion of that in grants, according to recovery.gov, the accountability board’s website.
Milwaukee County alone received 801 awards, totaling more than $1 billion.
The board transitions into its new oversight duties in the shadow of concern about potential waste and fraud from the unprecedented relief effort.
An analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense found $2 billion for road projects nationwide, and another $118 million for Amtrak’s Northeast corridor line.
U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania, a state pummeled by last fall’s devastating Hurricane Sandy, wrote in a letter to federal Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan about his concerns that relief go to where it is supposed to, including the $16 billion in community development block grants.
To date, HUD has released more than $3.4 billion in aid for New York, and another $1.8 billion for New Jersey.
Bill Triplett, spokesman for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, said the agency has yet to post any data on fraud or misuse stemming from the first rounds of Sandy relief funding.
“We’re not sure what data we will be collecting by the agencies, but there will be information concerning that funding and where it went,” Triplett said.
By M.D. Kittle, Wisconsin Reporter
Original Publication URL: http://watchdog.org/82462/stimulus-waste-trackers-now-tracking-sandy-relief-funding/
Discussion
Sign Up for Updates
