Last night, the Senate approved a motion offered by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), which called for the federal budget to include restrictions against any health care legislation that socializes medicine.

The vote was fun to watch as Democrats wrestled with the question. You see, most Democrats want the government to eliminate what’s left of a private health care market in our country but they don’t want Americans to know what that means.

DeMint’s motion called for a new point of order requiring 60 votes in the Senate to pass any health care legislation that:

• “eliminates the ability of Americans to keep their health plan;”
• “eliminates the ability of Americans to choose their doctor;” or that will
• “decrease the number of Americans enrolled in private health insurance, while increasing the number of Americans enrolled in government-managed, rationed health care.”

These are guarantees President Obama made during the campaign. He said, “If you’ve got health care already, and probably the majority of you do, then you can keep your plan.” He has also promised Americans that they will be able to “keep” their choice of doctor and retain control over their health care decisions – noting that, “No government bureaucrat will second-guess decisions about your care.”

Unfortunately, the President’s memory is selective these days and the mainstream media is complicit. But that’s what made this vote so difficult for Democrats who don’t want to expose their plans to ditch their campaign promises.

The motion passed with 79 votes but not after a lot of hand wringing. Most Democrats voted for the motion because it was non-binding. They knew they could vote for it, kill it later in a backroom deal, and still socialize medicine.

But 14 Democrats actually voted against the motion, admitting publicly that they want to take away our private health plans, eliminate our choice of doctor, and force us into a government-run and government-rationed system. They were …

Bingaman (D-NM)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Cardin (D-MD)
Durbin (D-IL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Levin (D-MI)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Sanders (I-VT)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)

These Democrats should be voted out of office as soon as possible. But they should also be given credit for their honesty. They were at least willing to stand up and publicly acknowledge their true agenda regardless of how dangerous and outrageous it is. And that’s more than what can be said of their colleagues, who did not vote their consciences. There were five Democrats who initially voted against the motion but then lost their nerve and switched their votes. They were …

Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gillibrand (D-NY)

Of course, these five Democrats speak for the rest in their party who voted for the motion to hide their true agendas.

Now we’ll have to wait to see if the Democrat-controlled Congress will include DeMint’s point of order in the final budget. But don’t hold your breath. DeMint’s provision would likely stop any health care bill the Democrats write, even if they try to pass health care reform using fast-track procedures under budget “reconciliation.” So keep your eye on the 40 Democrats who voted right last night because they will switch their votes when the real health care bill makes its way through Congress.

• General Motors, surviving on a $13.4 billion government bail out, spent $2.8 million lobbying during the first three months of 2009 … MORE

General Motors Corp., surviving on $13.4 billion in government aid, spent $2.8 million on lobbying during the first three months of 2009, according to disclosures filed yesterday with the U.S. House and Senate.

“Like any quarter, our reporting and expenses reflect the level of activity that we’re engaged in, and the breadth of issues that affect our business,” Greg Martin, a GM spokesman, said.

• Missouri spent $500,000 of federal stimulus money on fish food … MORE

Among the smaller items is $500,000 in federal stimulus money earmarked to defray feed costs for Missouri fish farmers.

• New York town is getting $578,661 in federal stimulus funding to address a homeless problem that the town does not have … MORE

The Town of Union is getting $578,661 in federal Recovery Act funding for a homeless problem that may not exist within its borders.

The money is coming from the federal Housing and Urban Development program to pay for homeless prevention and emergency shelter programs.

Union did not request the money and does not currently have homeless programs in place in the town to administer such funds, said town Supervisor John Bernardo.

“We were surprised,” Bernardo said. “We’ve never been a recipient before.”

Bernardo said he isn’t aware of any homeless issue in the largely suburban town.

• Congressman seeks $3 million earmark for a company that purchased his family’s business two years ago … MORE

Rep. Chris Lee is seeking $3 million in federal funding for the Rochester operation of ITT Corp., the conglomerate that purchased the Lee family business two years ago.

The Clarence Republican said he is pursuing the earmark for ITT Industries Space Systems because its Rochester operation, while located in the district of Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, employs nearly 700 people who live in his district.

• For the third time in a year, Ohio county officials caught giving federal job training money intended for the unemployed and underprivileged to individuals not qualified for the assistance … MORE

For the third time in 12 months, a state audit has found that Portage County officials improperly handed out federal job- training money meant for the unemployed and underprivileged.

This time, an audit for the fiscal year ending last summer found that $151,069 went to 18 individuals who were not qualified.

• Pennsylvania auditor warns that the federal funds being sent to the state are at risk for fraud and misuse … MORE

Auditor General Jack Wagner’s letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned that internal controls were so weak that information about how stimulus funds were spent would be unreliable without an independent audit agency’s oversight.

• 59% of U.S. voters agree that the “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem” and 60% say the federal government has too much power and too much money … MORE

Overall, most Americans worry now that the federal government will do too much in response to the nation’s current economic situation.

However, 59% of U.S. voters agree with former President Ronald Reagan that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

• House Homeland Security chairman seeks millions of dollars of earmarks for small Mississippi college that he attended, although the school can not explain what the earmarks are for and does not have the capacity to provide the services for which it would receive the funding … MORE

The money would be “an addition to existing programs” at the institutions, Avant said. Tougaloo “has one of the most renowned engineering programs of all the [historically black colleges and universities] in the country. … It’s not like Tougaloo is some kind of new kid on the block,” he said.

But Tougaloo does not offer an engineering major. The school’s course catalog indicates that there is not a single engineering class being taught at Tougaloo this semester.

• House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chairman directing $31 million in earmarks to 10 companies that recently donated thousands of dollars to his re-election campaign … MORE

Murtha wants $8 million for Argon ST, a defense contractor whose CEO gave Murtha the maximum allowed by law – $2,400 by an individual. He’s directing a $5 million earmark toward Advanced Acoustic Concepts, which also gave the max – $5,000 for a political action committee – to his campaign. In all, 10 recent Murtha donors are slated to receive $31 million in Murtha earmarks for 2010.

Taxpayer watchdogs may not like how it looks, but it’s not against the law unless donations were required in order to receive the earmarks. Looking for evidence of wrongdoing, the FBI has recently raided offices of two other companies linked to Murtha.

• Despite criticism of earmarks by House Republican leaders, pork projects requested by Republican congressman total billions of dollars … MORE

The requests by the ranking members on the panel and those of other Republicans stand in contrast to the positions of House Republican leaders who want the earmarking process to be reformed, if not ended.

• Senator offers bill to steer $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract … MORE

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.

Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn’t a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments – not direct federal dollars.

Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) – the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman – had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.

• Northern Mariana Islands seeks to spend stimulus funds on food stamps for non- U.S. citizens … MORE

This was disclosed by DCCA Secretary Cecilia T. Celes Friday, who said the funds would come from the stimulus law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

• Professor who heads Stanford History Education Group stuns by admitting there is little evidence that the history program funded with $838,172,000 in federal funds that supports his program is effective … MORE

And how do we generally measure the effect of the TAH programs on teachers? By having them take multiple choice questions found in an AP history exam. Wineburg was incredulous about this. “In other words, we are paying millions of federal dollars per fiscal year to assure that school teachers possess the level of factual knowledge that we expect of bright seventeen year olds.” This statement prompted loud murmuring (whether in dissent or support was unclear).

• Federal education grant paid to send 30 teachers on a junket to New York City; The group toured Yankee Stadium, went to a Mets baseball game, attended a taping of the David Letterman Show and a Broadway Musical, went shopping of Fifth Avenue, and took a dinner cruise which provided a view of the Statue of Liberty at night … MORE

The travel is provided by the Federal Department of Education’s teaching American history grant. This is the final year of the second grant which covers a three-year time-frame and is in the amount of $581,019.

• Federal history program pays for teachers to take a canoe trip of the Missouri River in Montana … MORE

History grant; Bowder became part of the Teaching American History Grant program during which she and other northeast Nebraska instructors spent three years studying various topics including the Lewis and Clark expedition. Through that program, Bowder and other teachers canoed the Missouri River in Montana, following the expedition route.

• Isolated airport sees half as many travelers as it once did, but continues to receive millions of dollars in earmarks from local congressman; Taxpayers pay $147 per passenger to subsidize flights… MORE

The airport’s passenger count has fallen by more than half in the past 10 years. When Johnstown native Bill Previte arrived on a recent morning, he lamented that his plane was half-empty and that the terminal was deserted.

“Doesn’t it seem kind of ridiculous to have a motorized carousel for the baggage claim when 15 people get off the airplane?” he said. “It’s obvious: There’s not enough population to justify this place.”

• Half as many riders as projected are using buses paid for with a $2 million earmark in a small, prosperous Washington suburb; Taxpayers pay $8 per passenger to subsidize rides, in most cases enough to pay for a cab ride… MORE

A working group was formed to study feasibility. But it was a series of congressional earmarks, shepherded by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., that got the project off the ground. Moran is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which controls earmark spending.

Service began in December 2002, with the buses primarily delivering Falls Church commuters to two Metro subway stations on opposite ends of the city. Initial projections estimated ridership of about 144,000 annually. But ridership has never exceeded 75,000 and now stands at about 70,000.

• $68 million stimulus project will widen interstate exchange from two to three lanes in an area of Michigan that is not congested… MORE

While the population of the western Michigan county has grown 3 percent since 2000, it’s not exactly congested. “We’ve got a lot of things to deal with out here, but traffic isn’t one of them,” said Monitor correspondent and Kalamazoo resident Yvonne Zipp in an interview.

Rush hour lasts 10 minutes, maybe 15 on a Friday, she added. On the other hand, the interchange gets a lot of truck traffic, so it might smooth things a bit. “Do express my deep appreciation [to the president] for thinking of us,” Ms. Zipp said.

• Illinois, home of the President, White House chief of staff, and Secretary of Transportation, is getting more stimulus money for road and bridge projects than any other state, but the Administration claims that there is no favoritism… MORE

LaHood, a former 14-year congressman from Peoria, was the first Republican that President Barack Obama, a former U.S. senator from Illinois, selected to his White House Cabinet. He told WGN-AM 720 “there is no favoritism” involved in the distribution of federal money, but instead said it was based on a long-standing formula for allocating highway funds to the states.

Illinois is getting more stimulus money for road and bridge projects than any other state, federal and Illinois officials have said. More than $600 million in funding has been approved for nearly 250 projects

• $3.5 million loan using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 108 funds will finance the constructions of America?s Car Museum… MORE

The federal funds would permit construction of the first stage of the museum a 4.5-acre showfield and a 150,000-square-foot building that would be open seven days a week and contain 600 vehicles.

• Federal stimulus program spending nearly $1 billion a day… MORE

The money – nearly $1 billion a day – has gone mainly toward highway repairs, financial aid for states, nuclear waste cleanup and other public works, the reports show. In the package, $499 billion is for new spending – the rest is to finance tax cuts, which are reflected starting this month in lower withholding from workers’ paychecks.

• With the most effective pesticides banned by the federal government, Congressman to introduce “Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite Act” to create a new federal grant program to address growing bed bug epidemic… MORE

The EPA is not alone in trying to deal with the problem. An aide to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., says the congressman plans to reintroduce legislation next week to expand grant programs to help public housing authorities cope with infestations.

The bill will be called the “Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite Act.”

• Louisiana school administrators spent $90,000 of federal funds intended for low-income students on junkets to Las Vegas, Walt Disney World, and elsewhere … MORE

The money to pay for the trips, which included six administrators’ stay at The Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia and an $884 plane ticket to Dallas for the superintendent, came from the district’s general fund and from grants, such as GEAR UP.

• Federal grant meant to encourage health and good nutrition for children spent on “stability balls” for sitting … MORE
  

Some fourth-graders at Conrad Weiser West Elementary School love their new chairs – probably because they’re not really chairs at all.

The kids are sitting on stability balls, the air-filled, resin balls often used for exercising. But unlike the exercise variety, these have small legs that keep them from rolling.

• The City Colleges of Chicago misspent $8,800 of job training grant funds on iPods, a cell phone bill, and other ineligible expenses last year … MORE

Among the ways in which the money was misspent: on five Apple iPods with leather cases, costing a total of $2,000; on a $128 cell phone bill for an employee not connected with the grants; on $2,500 for ineligible transportation expenses, and for more than $4,000 in salaries for employees who weren’t supposed to be paid from the grant.

• Stimulus funds received by the Tennessee Department of Transportation isn’t just paying for construction and paving; The state plans to use that money on welcome centers and to create a railroad hotel museum … MORE

Tennessee is planning to use that money to improve various welcome centers and to help create the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum in Dickson.

Executive Director Cate Hamilton says the money will help the museum be able to open with a complete set of exhibits.

“Definitely this would help us tell our story here in Dickson Tennessee,” said Hamilton.

• $537,600 federal energy grant and some stimulus funds may pay for Illinois convention center with a ski slope … MORE

Tinley Park intends to pay for the expansion with money from a special taxing district. The village also received a $537,600 federal energy grant this month, which officials might put toward the convention center, and village leaders still hope to capture some money from the federal stimulus package.

• Federal stimulus project uses eminent domain to take private property away from land owners against their will in California … MORE

The court order will go into effect April 3, Thomas said, which will give the city just enough breathing room in meeting a deadline attached to some $10 million in federal money that is expected to be set aside for this project. The city was able to acquire the land through eminent domain, which gives governments the right to take private property for public needs with compensation given to the owner.

• Iowa using money freed up by federal stimulus cash to buy $11 million in new cars the state does not need; About four dozen brand new state cars are sitting unused in a parking lot near the capitol … MORE

House Democrats on six different occasions have rejected the idea of putting off buying new cars for the state vehicle fleet for the next year. Representative Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, is the legislator who made the suggestion.

“Look, this is not about bailing out G.M., o.k.? President Obama and congress are taking care of that for us,” Rants said this week during House debate. “They don’t need $11 million of Iowa taxpayer money.”

According to Rants, about four dozen brand new state cars are sitting unused in a parking lot near the capitol.

• Congressional pork projects cost taxpayers $19.6 billion in 2009 MORE

For the record: The 10,160 projects – valued at $19.6 billion – represent a 14 percent increase in the cost to taxpayers over last year’s spending on “pork.” That’s even though the number of projects went down 12.5 percent during the same period.

“Everyone in Washington has promised a new era of transparency and restraint in earmarks, from President Obama to the leaders of both parties in Congress,” said CAGW president Tom Schatz in a briefing Tuesday. “Sadly, the hard numbers from the 2009 appropriations bills tell a different story. The current Democratic congressional majority is following the same trajectory as their Republican predecessors. They came into power promising to cut earmarks and made a big show of it during their first two years. However, as the 2009 Pig Book amply illustrates, pork-barrel spending is growing fast.”

• Florida county school district used federal grants to pay for personal shopping sprees MORE

Monique Acevedo, a longtime employee of the Monroe County School District, loves to shop. In less than two years, she has spent more than $95,000 on pink silk ties, bar stools and spear-gun accessories. The eclectic list of purchases goes on: a table saw, a chandelier and the complete DVD box set of Six Feet Under.

Here’s the triple problem for Acevedo’s boss, the school district superintendent:

No. 1: Acevedo bought those items — and thousands more — with her school district purchase card and claimed them as legitimate expenses for the adult education and career department she oversaw.

No. 2: She now is under criminal investigation by the state attorney’s office.

No. 3: She is his wife.

• Michigan stimulus project is not wanted by local officials MORE

At the time, MDEQ project manager Mike Cox told township officials that a sewer project for Cedar would remain on the state’s list of projects and might become the beneficiary of federal “stimulus” funding through the state if the U.S. Congress passed a stimulus plan.

Congress did. And now, the State of Michigan is offering Solon Township a $1.3 million loan and $300,000 grant to build a wastewater treatment plant for which there is no plan, and for which local public support is questionable at best.

“You’ve seen a news release about a sewer project in Cedar?” Solon Township supervisor Jim Lautner asked a newspaper reporter who called about the subject. “Well, then you probably know a lot more about it than I do. I haven’t seen a news release and I don’t know anything about this project. So I have no comment.”

• Birmingham, Alabama, misused $784,145 in federal housing funds to coordinate “Neighborhood Fun Days” parties and to work on alcohol-license applications MORE

The report, delivered to Langford this week, concludes that employees paid with $1 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have performed work outside their HUD-authorized duties and the city must reimburse the agency.

The 13 employees in the city’s Community Development Department worked outside HUD guidelines by coordinating neighborhood association community parties, conducting zoning investigations and working on alcohol-license applications.

• $250 million Census Bureau promotional campaign to encourage participation in the 2010 census will ensure Americans will have seen and heard more ads in the media than in any prior census MORE

More than half those funds will go for advertising across traditional and social media, and nearly a quarter will be devoted exclusively to Asian, black and Hispanic outlets.

“A year from now, the populace will have seen and heard more ads in national and local media than in any prior census,” the Census Bureau’s acting director, Thomas L. Mesenbourg, told a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee.

• Cleveland purchased $2 million worth of radio equipment with federal homeland security funds that may be unusable MORE

The city made the purchase — without obtaining bids — a few months before seeking bids on a $30 million to $60 million project for which the equipment might be needed.

If Motorola, the maker of the equipment, wins the bidding to build the city’s entire new radio system, then the original purchase gives the city a $2.3 million head start on that project. But if another company wins the bid on the full radio system, the $2.3 million piece of gear will be useless to the city.

• The IRS paid $16.3 million in false annual refunds MORE

As part of the 2008 economic stimulus signed by President Bush last year, the IRS distributed more than 119 million payments to taxpayers totaling $96.3 billion. The IG investigated the success of the agency’s criminal investigation division in preventing individuals who claimed false refunds on their tax returns from receiving stimulus payments, and found that a fraction of the total $96.3 billion — $1.2 million — were false stimulus payments. The review, however, also showed that the IRS paid $16.3 million in false annual refunds during that period.

• Nearly two dozen VA officials who received more than a half-a-million dollars in bonuses also sat on the boards that made the bonus recommendations MORE

Documents obtained by The Associated Press raise questions of conflicts of interest or appearances of conflicts in connection with the bonuses, some of which went to senior officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1.3 billion short and jeopardized veterans’ health care.

The documents show that 21 of 32 officials who were members of VA performance review boards received more than half a million dollars in payments themselves.

• Foster care agency used taxpayer dollars to pay for X-rated cable TV, gambling, luxury cars, psychic hotlines, jewelry, parties, lottery tickets, alcohol, vacations, artwork, and even a cremation MORE
  

Nearly six years after audits found private foster care agency officials were enjoying lives of luxury at taxpayer expense, new studies have found similar abuses, such as using public funds to pay for X-rated cable TV, gambling and expensive cars.

In one report on the Rites of Passage Residential Center in Los Angeles, auditors identified $7,354 in unallowable costs and $148,192 in unsupported or inadequately supported costs.

The unallowable costs included $5,000 in foster care funds used to pay delinquent federal payroll taxes and $117 for adult entertainment cable television charges.

The auditors also questioned $11,612 in inadequately supported vehicle lease payments, insurance and Department of Motor Vehicle license renewal for a 2005 Lincoln Navigator used by the executive director.

• The United Nations misspent millions of dollars from the U.S. on shoddy projects in Afghanistan, diverted U.S. money to other countries, and stonewalled U.S. efforts to figure out how the money was spent MORE
  

The U.N. ran a “quick impact” infrastructure program from 2003 to 2006 under a $25 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The U.N. delivered shoddy work, diverted money to other countries and then stonewalled U.S. efforts to figure out what happened, according to a report by USAID’s inspector general obtained by USA TODAY under the Freedom of Information Act.

• Massachusetts sitting on more than $80 million in federal funds intended for bike trails MORE
  

Since 1991, the state has only spent about 37 percent of its share of the funding designated by Congress for such projects, a far lower rate than in any other state, according to federal statistics. By comparison, Connecticut and Rhode Island have spent 99 percent of their federal funding.

Massachusetts has been allocated $135 million for bike and pedestrian funding since 1991, and has used $51.1 million.

• The stimulus fund will give $100 million to a public-private organization that has only one employee MORE
  

The stimulus fund will give $100 million to the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program (EFSP), a public-private organization that was created in 1983 to help provide for the needs of hungry and homeless Americans. The program, which is supposed to be overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), awards grants to local social service organizations. It sounds like a good idea, but there’s one catch: the EFSP has only one employee.

• Reading, writing and Arabic:? $602,433 federal grant funds Arabic classes at an Iowa school MORE
  

Al-Attar, 41, said she first saw the ad for an Arabic teacher in Kalona in her mosque in Iowa City.

“I was shocked at first. I said, ‘What? They want to learn Arabic in Kalona? Why would they want to learn Arabic?’ ” she said.

• Alabama senator sets a goal of earmarking $1 billion in federal money to state university MORE
  

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby said Friday he hopes to have steered $1 billion in federal money to the University of Alabama by the time his congressional career ends.

“I’ve already got well over $500 million for our state university,” Shelby told the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama at its Chamber-in-Session breakfast Friday. “My goal is $1 billion. And I am running for re-election next year.”

• Some cities want bridges and schools from the federal stimulus plan, but Virginia Beach wants all of that and $10 million worth of sand to enhance its oceanfront MORE
  

Some cities want bridges and schools from the federal stimulus plan. Virginia Beach wants all of that and sand, too.

Beach officials are concerned the Obama administration will disqualify sand replenishment projects from receiving stimulus cash and have launched a pre-emptive lobbying effort.

Mayor Will Sessoms sent a letter to members of the city’s congressional delegation asking that Virginia Beach get $10 million to replace sand at the Oceanfront.

• Newspaper seeking bankruptcy protection from its creditors that owes Pennsylvania $286,000 in taxes plans to pay its top executives up to $1.7 million in bonuses MORE
  

Officials in Pennsylvania objected Monday to a plan by Journal Register Co. to pay its top executives up to $1.7 million in bonuses even as the newspaper publisher seeks protection from creditors.

The bonuses amount to an employee retention plan that does not meet federal bankruptcy law standards, Attorney General Tom Corbett wrote in the objection filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

• Taxpayers get the bill for relocation service for federal employees MORE
  

A chief pharmacist at the Bay Pines VA Medical Center, Clark enrolled in a program that enabled doctors and others transferring within the VA system to sell their homes to a relocation company if they couldn’t find a buyer. So when Clark transferred to an Arkansas VA clinic in 2007, Cartus Relocation bought his Clearwater pool home for $542,500 and eventually resold it.

It was a good deal for Clark, who had paid $360,000 for the house in 2001. But it wasn’t so good for taxpayers or the VA, which had to pay Cartus a fee of nearly $87,000 to handle the transaction.

• No day at the beach for stimulus funds? Lobbyists for shore side communities mobilize to ensure stimulus funds will be available to enhance beaches MORE
  

New Jersey is the national leader in federally subsidized beach projects, with about $450 million spent since 1985. Beach-fill projects are in the works all along the New Jersey and Delaware coasts.

It is not yet certain which projects would be affected if the federal government pulled out, and any changes would not take effect until the new fiscal year started in September. But coastal lobbyists fear for the future of the program if financially strapped state and local governments have to pay all the bills. Typically, the federal government pays 65 percent of the costs.

• $1 billion in federal funds allows Maryland to put off tough budget decisions, but lawmakers worry that the federal aid will make it much harder to balance the state budget when the stimulus funds run out MORE
  

Still, the strategy of using federal money for ongoing state expenditures has sparked considerable debate in the closing days of the session. Some lawmakers are cautioning that getting hooked on federal aid now will make it much harder to balance the state budget in two years, when the stimulus funds run out.

• Ohio wants to spend $57 million in federal stimulus money on planning studies for highway projects that won’t begin for years MORE
  

Ohio wants to spend $57 million in federal stimulus money on highway projects that won’t begin for years, an unusual strategy for money that President Barack Obama said should be used to give the economy an immediate job-creating jolt.

Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and the state’s transportation officials passed over some ready-to-go construction projects and steered about 7 percent of their $774 million share for planning and preliminary studies.

• More than $485,000 in state grants and federal transportation money being spent to restore unused grist mill in Virginia MORE
  

The first phase, which Price said was covered by about $85,000 in state and federal grants, involved work on the building’s foundation.

Phase II, funded so far by more than $400,000 in state and federal transportation money, is the main building restoration – repairing windows, siding, structural timbers, stonework and other aspects of the building.

• International market in Wichita funded with a $327,360 federal grant has paid more than $500,000 to consultants during four years of study but is still in the development stage MORE
  

Money for Nomar’s development and construction comes from a $327,360 federal grant and from $500,000 in the city’s capital improvement program fund. The city also budgeted $500,000 for streetscape improvements around the 21st and North Broadway corridor.

Estrada and business owner Ken Thomas are among people who question how the money has been used.

The city has spent about $567,000 on consultants whose roles ranged from producing business plans to performing an area analysis for historical buildings to creating architectural plans.