Billions in Aid Going to Areas That Backed Obama in '08

Meredith Jessup | July 09, 2009 7:27 PM

USA Today reports today that billions more federal aid dollars have been reserved for areas around the country that supported President Obama during the 2008 presidential election.

Much of it [$17 billion of the stimulus package spent to date] has followed a well-worn path to places that regularly collect a bigger share of federal grants and contracts, guided by formulas that have been in place for decades and leave little room for manipulation.

"There's no politics at work when it comes to spending for the recovery," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says.

However, an analysis of government accounting records by USA Today has found that counties that supported then-Senator Obama last year have received twice as much money per person from the federal economic stimulus package as those that voted for his rival, Republican Sen. John McCain.

Jake Wiens, an investigator with the non-profit Project on Government Oversight, says it's too soon to draw meaningful conclusions about whether the type of aid in the stimulus favors Obama's constituents.
But, he says, "it will be important to pay close attention as the data come in to ensure that political favoritism plays no role."

We'll keep you posted...