Congress Bails Out the Auto Industry…Again…

The House today doubled down on the “Cash for Clunkers” program, approving $2 billion more to keep the nationwide sales ploy afloat. With the first $1 billion set to run out, Congress moved with lightning speed to get more cash on the street – despite widespread reports of confusion surrounding how the program is being administered.

Congressman Hodes, not surprisingly, praised the bill in a statement:

It’s good for New Hampshire’s auto dealers; it’s good for the environment as we are getting inefficient cars off the road; and it’s good for the economy and jobs.

Ah, Congressman, but what about the taxpayers? What about our record deficit and debt? How many future generations will have to pay for a program that may be “popular” but is completely fiscally irresponsible?

Let’s hope the Senate put the breaks on this fast-track funding when it reaches the upper chamber next week.

Cost Efficiency Takes a Back Seat

The State of New Hampshire is preparing to spend nearly $1 million to renovate a largely unused building in Concord as a part of a stimulus initiative to increase energy efficiency among government buildings.

The State has accepted $10.7 million as a part of the Department of Energy's State Energy Program. The renovation of the New Hampshire Hospital building in Concord, estimated to cost approximately $900,000, is the top ticket item, according to a report in today's Concord Monitor.

Unfortunately, only 20% of the building is in use by state employees and, as has become a running theme with the stimulus projects, no one knows how many jobs the project will generate:

Though the old New Hampshire Hospital building in Concord has sat largely empty for decades, much of the building - 215,000 square feet - is heated through the winter. Only about 20 percent of that space is used for state offices. The heating system in the 1842 building operates with an all-or-nothing approach.

Until this week, the state hasn't had the money to fix the problem, but state officials have now formally accepted $10.7 million in stimulus money to improve energy efficiency at state buildings. Adding heating zones to the old hospital building, at a cost of about $900,000, is among the top-ticket items on a preliminary list of changes to be made at 75 state buildings. …

[T]he $10.7 million plan could reduce energy use in state buildings by about 1 percent. Money set aside to train building managers could increase that.

"We've been struggling to stay even," Downes said. "If we can actually reduce (usage) by 1 percent, that's making progress."

Downes said it's hard to say how many jobs the projects could create, though the state will be tracking that as the work moves forward. Administrative Services has hired three people to help run the program and will put out requests for proposals on various projects soon.

Ranking the State Stimulus Websites

Good Jobs First, a grassroots policy resource center, has published a report grading each state’s stimulus website.

“Many states are failing to support President Obama’s vow that the Recovery Act will be carried out with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability,” said Good Jobs First executive director Greg LeRoy. “By failing to use broadly available web tools, they are making it more difficult to measure the success of ARRA in mitigating the effects of the recession.”

According to the report, the five states doing the best job conveying general information through their websites are:

1. Maryland
2. Colorado
3. Washington
4. West Virginia
5. New York

And the five worst are:

50. Utah
50. Illinois
47. Alabama
47. Kansas
47. Kentucky

Comparably, New Hampshire ranks quite well, tied for 13th. However, that rank is somewhat deceiving as the state only scored 38 out of a possible 100 points – meaning there is clearly some room for improvement.

You can read the full study here, or simply check out New Hampshire’s scores here.

"0.006% of the Estimated Federal Deficit"

Following up on last month's Presidential directive that all cabinet level agencies look for ways to trim a whopping $100 million from the federal government's nearly $3 trillion budget, the Wall Street Journal today publishes an interesting look at exactly what the various agencies are cutting to reach this goal:

The Forest Service will no longer repaint its new, white vehicles green immediately upon purchase. The Army will start packing more soldiers onto R&R flights. The Navy will delete unused email accounts. ...

The Justice Department estimates it can save $573,000 through fiscal 2010 by setting up its printers and copiers to use both sides of the paper. By emailing some documents instead of printing them out, the Department of Homeland Security will save $318,000. ...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is going to save $3.8 million by refurbishing and reusing or selling its emergency trailers -- like the ones provided to people displaced by hurricanes -- instead of ditching them.

Only one cabinet office proposed actually eliminating a program. The Department of Labor says it will disband the nearly 40-year-old Employment Standards Administration. With it goes an assistant secretary of labor, two deputy assistants and an administrative office.

The Debt Mobile

The Political Math folks, now famous for their videos regarding the stimulus, presidential budget cuts, and the impact of nationalized health care, have a new short out comparing the speed at which past President's have increased the national debt. Enjoy (or be concerned):

$2 Million for 4 Buses

The Union Leader takes a swipe at the stimulus-funded purchase of 4 NH to Boston commuter buses:

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Friday that it is sending $2 million in stimulus money to the state DOT to buy four buses. The buses will be owned by the state. Boston Express will use one pair, and C&J Trailways will use the other -- all for free. C&J co-owns Boston Express with Concord Coach.

"These funds are creating jobs now while investing in the future of our transit systems," Administrator Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) said in Friday's news release. "The public's demand for transit service continues to grow, and these dollars will help meet that need."

That sounds nice. But it isn't true.

Two of the buses will replace C&J buses currently in service on I-95. C&J President Jim Jalbert confirmed to us in an interview Friday that his company would make no new hires in relation to receiving those buses.

The other two buses will be used by Boston Express to add new service. The number of new jobs created? "As many as four or five," Jalbert said. They will all be bus drivers.

Two million dollars to create "four or five" bus-driver jobs? That's as much as $500,000 per job.

Biden's NYT Op-Ed

Vice-President Biden used an op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times to detail, “What You May Not Know About the Recovery.” His premise:

Notwithstanding this progress, the nature of the Recovery Act remains misunderstood by many, and misconstrued by others: critics have suggested that the entire $787 billion is being spent on pet programs. As the person leading the administration’s efforts to put the Recovery Act into effect, I want to set the record straight.

As expected, the piece was not much more than fluff in favor of the stimulus. Explaining away the things that haven’t quite worked out so well and hyping up the few anecdotal positive results.

As example of the former, from Mike Allen’s Sunday Playbook:

SHOT -- THE VICE PRESIDENT TODAY: '[T]he act was intended to provide steady support for our economy over an extended period - not a jolt that would last only a few months.'

CHASER 1-- THE VICE PRESIDENT in March: 'The Recovery Act, as we call it, provides a necessary jolt to our economy.'

CHASER 2 -- PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA in November: '[W]e have a consensus, which is pretty rare, between conservative economists and liberal economists, that we need a big stimulus package that will jolt the economy back into shape.'

CHASER 3 -- PRESIDENT OBAMA, at his first press conference: '[W]ith the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life.'