Obama Administration Defends Its Data Quality

The data on the federal government's stimulus-tracking Web site has been criticized for being inaccurate, including inflated job creation numbers and Congressional districts that don't exist. But the White House is refusing to back down, championing the effort as a "huge success" and noting that the data will get better. "When you consider the sheer number of reports that had to be filed, processed, and posted; the fact that this had never been done before; and the very short time to check reports and make sure they were right -- the data collected and posted is very impressive," said Ed DeSeve, special advisor to the president and to the OMB Director for implementation of the Recovery Act.