Federal "Stimulus" Watch

To watch Denny talk about the stimulus from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives via YouTube, CLICK HERE.

It's been three months since the $1 trillion so-called stimulus passed Congress.  Vice President Biden just issued the first quarterly report, full of glowing anecdotal stories about the successful stimulus, but as the Associated Press points out, the facts don't support his claims.

FACT CHECK: Data belie Biden stimulus anecdotes
By MATT APUZZO with the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his first quarterly report on the nation's stimulus package, Vice President Joe Biden uses anecdotes to paint a glowing picture of an economy on the rebound. In reality, the picture is incomplete and the colors far more muted.

It is not disputed that Washington is spending historic amounts of money at a rate far faster than normal. Workers are getting tax breaks, Washington is picking up a greater share of state Medicaid costs and road construction projects are beginning.

Even Recovery.gov, the Web site that has yet to live up to its billing as a one-stop way to track every penny, offers more information than typical government programs, and faster.

But the effect of that spending is less clear. Many of the claims the White House is making are based on anecdotes selected to fit the Obama administration's message. For instance, the report cites a newspaper article about workers being rehired at a factory in Chicago. That account is true, but is no more an accurate snapshot of the nation's economy than a story, not cited in the report, about a Roanoke, Va., railcar factory closing.

Capturing the full effect of the stimulus at this early stage is difficult, but the administration has set high bars for success. In championing those successes, however, the White House plays a little loose with the facts.

Keep reading for a detailed breakdown.

Before voting against the massive bill which was rushed to passage before anyone had time to read the legislation, Congressman Rehberg wrote an Op-Ed. He said that a true stimulus needed to be timely, targeted, temporary and transparent.  This bill has failed all four of those criteria.

NOT Timely: Only 6% of the stimulus funds have been paid out” since the President signed the bill into law on February 17, 2009.  (New York Times)

NOT Targeted: Only 12¢ of every dollar spent in the stimulus is being used for activities that would stimulate the economy (Wall Street Journal).  The rest is being used to make government bigger - the stimulus creates or expands 106 new programs, including funding programs that have nothing to do with helping the economy.

NOT Temporary: Only 11 percent of the discretionary funding will be spent in the first year, and less than half (47 percent) gets out the door in the first two years.

NOT Transparent: The website which was supposed to allow us to track "every dime" of stimulus spending isn't up yet - and it won't be for another five months (USA Today).