Aug 17, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Excerpted from THE DAILY CALLER: The administration has waited three years and seven months to implement a new “We Can’t Wait” project that redirects unspent appropriations to fund new construction projects.
The wait delayed the spending announcement until 11 weeks prior to the November election.
The announcement is part of the administration’s “We Can’t Wait” effort, which highlights the president’s authority to change spending, law enforcement priorities and regulations, independent of Congress and the courts.
The redirected $473 million includes funds from appropriation laws passed up to 10 years ago, Josh Easton, the White House’ deputy press secretary, announced Aug. 17.
“Instead of seeing these funds sit idle… we’ll use them to put Americans back to work,” he said. “Some of them are nearly 10 years old,” he announced.
However, even though the money is being released, it is unlikely to have any impact on the economy for several months. That’s because federal funds come with many regulatory and paperwork requirements that need to be processed.
Those requirements greatly reduced the economic impact of the $787 billion 2009 stimulus bill. In June 2011, President Barack Obama admitted the paperwork had slowed the allocation of 2009 stimulus money intended for construction programs. “Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected,” Obama joked during a Jobs and Competitiveness Council meeting in Durham, N.C.
