As the stimulus was passed, news was made about a clean-coal plant in Illinois that was a championed pet project of President Obama when he was Senator Obama. It was emphasized over and over again that although the plant could use money, it would not receive favoritism in the form of earmarks or special spending. The President didn't lie, the plant is not receiving earmarked funds, but the President did lie about the project not receiving preferential treatment. According to Politico, there are some serious concerns about the requirements for projects to receive stimulus funding:
But others say that’s a distinction without a difference — that
FutureGen is merely an earmark by another name, a project that had
powerful patrons, funding straight out of the stimulus bill and
requirements for the money targeted so narrowly that only a few
projects would fit the bill.
The funding is attracting harsh criticism from Sen. Tom Coburn
(R-Okla.), who will release a report Tuesday blasting 100 wasteful
projects in the federal stimulus spending. The FutureGen project is on
his top 10. “FutureGen is the most expensive earmark in history,”
Coburn said. “And it is one of the most egregious examples of stimulus
dollars being handed out on the basis of politics rather than merit or
need.”
Just how much is the "most expensive earmark in history"? FutureGen is receiving federal stimulus spending in the range of $1 billion, which means that it constitutes the largest single project that we know of thusfar. It just so happens that this massive project is the one President Obama championed when he was touting his energy-friendly rhetoric (which his Vice President promptly said the opposite on). Do you feel stimulated by the President's pet projects receiving dollars to the tune of ten digits?