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USA Today reports that states are not using fed stimulus monies to fund long-term, infrastructure projects:

As required by the $787 billion stimulus law, the [Government Accountability Office (GAO)] is monitoring stimulus spending in 16 states and the District of Columbia that will receive two-thirds of the federal funds.

It reports to Congress every two months.

The report says that as of mid-June, states had received about $29 billion of the estimated $49 billion in stimulus funding they are scheduled to get before the federal budget year ends Sept. 30. More than 90% of the money given to the states so far is for Medicaid and a fund meant to prop up states’ budgets for schools and other basic services such as public safety.

The report . . . also says many states aren’t meeting some goals and requirements of the economic recovery program.

Some states, for example, are not sending transportation funding to the most economically distressed areas, and they are using education funds to prevent layoffs rather than fund innovative new programs, the report says.

Critics of the stimulus plan have said that increasing unemployment is proof that the plan has failed:

Republicans such as Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the ranking GOP member of the oversight committee, have said the nation’s rising unemployment rate means the stimulus package isn’t working.

“By any standards, the expectations that accompanied the stimulus have fallen far short,” Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella said in an e-mail Tuesday.

Other Links:

• Gibbs: Stimulus Plan is Working Despite Job Loss – The Hill
• How’s that $787 billion Stimulus Bill Working Out? – Blogging Stocks
• Obama Stands to be Judged on Economic Recovery – The Washington Post

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