Report Card Due on Stimulus

The public will get its first granular look Thursday at how the $787 billion stimulus package is being spent -- but the information may leave armchair auditors dissatisfied, and the data on job-creation data will be less than definitive. Recipients of stimulus grants, loans and contracts -- which make up about a third of the total package -- were required to file at the start of the month their first reports on how they spent the money and how many jobs were created. On Thursday, the government's Web site is slated to post the reports for all federal contracts awarded so far, and at month's end, it will post reports for all grants and loans awarded. The information released Thursday will cover just a sliver of the total stimulus spending, with details on $6 billion to $12 billion in contracts, according to the non-profit OMB Watch. The reports will be dominated by agencies that are spending their money through direct contracts, such as the Department of Energy, which is cleaning up nuclear-waste sites in Washington state and South Carolina, and the General Services Administration, which is renovating federal buildings. A more representative sample about 10 times larger will be reported at the end of the month, including the contracts awarded by states and local governments, which received stimulus grants for such projects as highway infrastructure and home weatherization. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," OMB Watch Director Gary Bass said.