Implementing $787B

Many federal agencies, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Social Security Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration, have been deemed winners of the stimulus bill that President Obama signed Tuesday.

Most government agencies have been operating with level funding for a couple of years in the wake of appropriations disputes between President Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress. The stimulus gives government a big infusion of cash. A third of the $787 billion is targeted at tax cuts, but these have to be put into place by the Treasury Department.

{mosads}The National Institutes of Health (NIH), thanks in large part to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), secured $10 billion, which is what the Senate bill sought. The House measure sought only $3.5 billion.

Specter has long been a champion of the NIH, and the $10 billion was seen as essential to getting his centrist vote for the final package.

While some in the executive branch are celebrating the bill’s enactment, others who have served as heads of government agencies know the funds come with headaches and public-relations nightmares.

Obama and congressional Democrats have a lot riding on the success of the stimulus. They know that oversight of the $787 billion must be far tougher than on the first $350 billion that the Bush administration spent as part of the $700 billion bailout legislation last fall.

Implementing the thousands of policy changes called for in the stimulus will be an enormous challenge for the federal government, especially with Republicans in Congress ready to pounce if money is wasted or fails to deliver what Democrats promised.

The task is even more daunting now, with the new president still needing to complete the construction of his Cabinet. Even if Obama soon announces his choices to lead the departments of Health and Human Services and Commerce, he still needs to pick more than a thousand additional political appointees to flesh out his government team.

For example, Congress allowed the NIH director enormous discretion on the $10 billion it appropriated. The bill allows him/her to use $8.2 billion as he/she deems appropriate. But it could be months before an NIH head is appointed, and confirmed by the Senate.

Implementing the stimulus will not wait, as acting heads of agencies will start the process. But on difficult implementation decisions, and there will be many, these placeholders will wait until they are guided by the White House.