Obama, Cabinet members discuss recovery funds

Business as usual must change

Steve Hawley, Feb 23, 09.

President Obama and two of his Cabinet members have gone on record stating how the recovery plan should — and should not — be used. Here are some notable quotes:

President Obama: “The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody… recognizes that’s not a smart way to design communities. So we should be using this money to help spur this sort of innovative thinking when it comes to transportation.”

President Obama: “The American people are watching. They need this plan to work, and they expect to see the money they worked so hard to earn spent in its intended purposes without waste, without inefficiency, without fraud.”

President Obama: “If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it and put a stop to it. I want everyone here to be on notice that if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it as well and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it.”

President Obama: “We have asked for the unprecedented trust of the American people to deal boldly with the greatest economic crisis we have seen in decades — and the privilege of investing unprecedented amounts of their hard-earned money to address this crisis. With that comes an unprecedented obligation to do so wisely, free from politics and personal agendas. On this I will not compromise or tolerate any shortcut.”

President Obama: “I want to be clear about this: We cannot tolerate business as usual—not in Washington, not in our state capitols, not in America’s cities and towns.”

President Obama: “I would like to see some long-term reforms in how transportation dollars flow. ... I think right now we don’t do a lot of effective planning at the regional level when it comes to transportation. That’s hugely inefficient. Not only does it probably consume more money in terms of getting projects done, but it also ends up creating traffic patterns, for example, that are really hugely wasteful when it comes to energy use.”

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood: “There aren’t going to be any earmarks and there aren’t going to be any boondoggles. This money will be spent correctly, by the book, with no shortcuts.’‘

Secretary LaHood: “We will use the transportation funding in the [American Recovery and Reinvestment] Act to deliver jobs and restore our nation’s economy. We will emphasize sustainable investment and focus our policies on the people, businesses and communities who use the transportation systems. And, we will focus on the quality of our environment.”

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan: “There is a growing recognition that the ways we build housing and our cities are in no way sustainable. That must change.”