GAO finds states need help covering cost of managing, auditing massive stimulus spending

October 1st, 2009 Report: States are not boosting aid for schoolsWASHINGTON — An internal watchdog at the Education Department says states are using money from the economic stimulus to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools. President Barack Obama did not intend for state lawmakers to simply cut state education spending and replace it with stimulus dollars.

September 22nd, 2009 GAO finds audit quality problems at PentagonWASHINGTON — Pentagon auditors face serious problems in their ability to oversee contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars, according to congressional investigators, and a key senator says the agency in charge needs to focus more on quality than speed. The Government Accountability Office reviewed 69 audits and other cost-related assignments by the Defense Contract Audit Agency and found only four complied with government auditing standards.

September 21st, 2009 Shares of URS fall on analyst downgradeHARTFORD, Conn. — Shares of URS Corp.

September 18th, 2009 Parmalat to appeal judge's dismissal of suitsNEW YORK — Italian dairy giant Parmalat says it will appeal a federal judge's ruling tossing out lawsuits seeking to hold Bank of America Corp. and auditing firm Grant Thornton International responsible in Parmalat's collapse.

August 9th, 2009 GOP leader says no more stimulus spending neededWASHINGTON —The Senate's Republican leader says the economy doesn't need any more stimulus spending and the Obama administration should turn its attention toward dealing with the national debt. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says he hopes the economy is starting to turn around.

July 31st, 2009 GOP: Give 'kick in pants' to stimulus bridge workWASHINGTON — A top Republican congressman says the government needs a "kick in the pants" to get federal stimulus money focused on repairing dilapidated bridges. Rep. John Mica, the senior Republican on the transportation committee, said he's frustrated that states are spending so much on routine paving and not focusing on shoring up tens of thousands of bad bridges.

July 18th, 2009 Govs: Federal stimulus helped states plug budgetsBILOXI, Miss. — A bipartisan group of governors said Saturday that the federal stimulus package helped states avoid deep budget cuts during the recession.

July 8th, 2009 Audit: States using stimulus just to stay afloatWASHINGTON — Projects in some of the nation's poorest areas don't appear to be getting a fair shake in the spending of $787 billion in stimulus funds, the chairman of the House oversight committee said Wednesday. Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the panel, said he was particularly concerned that transportation projects in economically distressed areas were being left out — even though they are supposed to be a priority.

July 8th, 2009 Audit finds states using stimulus to stay afloatWASHINGTON — The Obama administration hoped spending $787 billion in stimulus would jump-start the economy, build new schools and usher in an era of education reform. But government auditors say many states are setting aside such grand plans and simply trying to stay afloat.

June 8th, 2009 Obama promises more than 600,000 stimulus jobsWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the United States remains in a deep recession that will take considerable time to escape. Obama met at the White House with his top administration officials on Monday to hear an update on his $787 billion spending plan.

May 13th, 2009 IRS auditing Tribune employee stock planCHICAGO — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing a Tribune Co. deal involving its employee stock ownership plan, a major piece of Sam Zell's plan to take his media company private.

May 13th, 2009 Feds to cover up-front costs of tracking stimulusWASHINGTON — Cash-strapped states are getting help from Washington to keep track of how they spend the $787 billion in federal stimulus money aimed at boosting jobs and the economy. States will now be able to get federal funds to hire auditors and accountants and pay other administrative costs associated with the stimulus money, said a memo released Wednesday by the White House.

April 23rd, 2009 Biden: States to use recovery money to manage aidWASHINGTON — States responsible for more than a third of President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus program will be able to tap some of the recovery money to cover costs of managing the new spending, Vice President Joe Biden told Congress Thursday. Biden sent a letter to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee summarizing new rules that will, among other things, offer states flexibility to use stimulus money to cover the costs of handling their share of Obama's spending program.

January 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is confident that efforts to pass a new $825 billion economic stimulus package by mid-February are 'on target,' despite Republican lawmakers' objections to some elements of the plan. Obama exuded optimism as he went into meeting at the White House Friday to discuss the stimulus proposal with Vice President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of nine congressional leaders from both Democratic and Republican parties.

January 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US president-elect Barack Obama Friday called for urgent action to stem the country's economic decline, lending his backing to a $825-billion stimulus package introduced by lawmakers a day earlier. But Obama warned that even with a massive injection of public cash into the world's largest economy 'things could get worse before they get better.' 'I want everybody to be realistic about this,' Obama said in a speech at a factory in Ohio.