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Norton Tells GSA to Release Its List of Projects Funded in the Stimulus Package (3/31/09)

March 31, 2009

Norton Tells GSA to Release Its List of Projects Funded in the Stimulus Package for the 50 States, D.C., and the Territories By Close of Business Today

March 31, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) told the General Services Administration (GSA) today that it must post online a complete list of all the projects that will be undertaken in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories using almost $6 billion Congress approved as the GSA portion of the stimulus package. At a hearing last week, the Congresswoman, chair, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, which has jurisdiction over GSA, asked GSA why the list of projects was not online, and learned that the White House itself wanted to make the announcement. That announcement from the White House is expected today.

The White House decided to announce the GSA projects because the GSA stimulus is a federal stimulus and is, therefore, different from the government's other infrastructure projects where there is a state or local intermediary responsible for carrying out the work. "With these projects, Congress has required one part of the government, the U.S. Treasury, to fund another part, the GSA, importantly, to create jobs, but also to attack the backlog of repairs and renovations, with a particular emphasis on energy consumption, that have long been delayed and are urgently needed,' Norton said. "This is government funding government to do the work that government should have been doing over a period of many years to save taxpayer funds for energy conservation and repairs. This keeps the government's valuable inventory from falling apart and needing to be replaced." Norton said the agency has a complete list of projects and there's no reason why it shouldn't be online by the end of the day today.