[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17833]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         WHERE IS THE WEB SITE

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, when Congress passed the $787 billion so-
called stimulus bill, the White House promised to set up a Web site 
where people could go to learn how the money was being spent. 
Recovery.gov has since been criticized for how long it took to get 
going and how forthcoming it has been with the information people need; 
yet it seems doubtful that what critics had in mind was an $18 million 
overhaul. That's exactly what this administration is planning.
  The General Services Administration, the agency that manages Federal 
Government property, announced Wednesday that $18 million in additional 
stimulus funds is being spent to redesign the recovery.gov Web site. A 
cost estimate from www.designquote.net makes the $18 million figure 
even more outrageous. According to the site, the top-end estimate for a 
premium Web design from a professional firm flush with all of the bells 
and whistles comes out at $192,740.
  One has to wonder what the other $17,807,260 in taxpayer money will 
be used for.

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