In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s first 77 days on the books, only $28.5 billion of the law’s $787.2-billion total has turned into actual outlays. Few of those hard dollars have flowed into construction programs. ARRA outlays by the Dept. of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency and General Services Administration for buildings totaled only $42.5 million as of May 12.
The Obama administration’s first quarterly report on the economic stimulus, released on May 13, says obligations—binding spending agreements—totaled more than $88 billion as of May 5, which is 15% of ARRA’s $575.3 billion in appropriations and direct spending. Of the $28.5 billion in outlays, $15.9 billion, or 56%, is medical assistance payments to states.