Congress was told again today that billions in money from the Obama Administration’s stimulus law – which went into effect over two years ago – still have not been spent by various federal agencies.
In a House hearing, a report from the General Accountability Office again detailed how certain agencies have “obligated” their stimulus funds, but a big chunk of the money has not been spent as yet.
“It looks as if too much of the money still has not been invested,” said Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY).
“If these funds are not being spent, we cannot fuel the job creation we need,” Tonko added.
This hearing was focused only on money focused on science programs through the Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, the National Science Foundation and NASA.
NASA had the best record, as the space agency has spent 95% of the $1 billion in stimulus money funneled to science programs.
The Commerce Department received $1.4 billion in science stimulus funds; the GAO reported that $900 million, or 64% of it has been spent so far, leaving $500 million still on the shelf.
The National Science Foundation had $3 billion in science stimulus funds – only 46% of has been spent at this point, meaning that about $1.5 billion remains unspent.
The biggest chunk of science money from the stimulus law is at the Energy Department, where the GAO says $19 billion, or 54% of the stimulus funding remains unspent.
The bottom line is that about $21 billion in stimulus money remains unspent in the science field.
