Blogs

As the Economic Recovery Grants Center recently reported, more than two-dozen police departments across the country have been barred from receiving Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant funding appropriated by the Recovery Act. Due to a variety of fiscal mismanagement and programmatic violations stemming from earlier COPS grants, the departments in question have incurred three-year funding bans, which prevent them from applying for a share of the $1 billion in COPS hiring grants contained in the economic stimulus.

In a Federal Register notice published today, the Department of Education established the deadline for states that have not yet submitted their applications for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund formula grants. To date, ED has accepted and approved applications from 13 states; states that have not yet applied have until 4:30 p.m. on July 1, 2009, to do so.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it hopes to have guidance on how it will distribute the $210 million it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for competitive grants to modify, upgrade or build firestations by mid-May or early June. What is known at this time is that no grant for such a purpose will be allowed to exceed $15 million.

Stick with the Economic Recovery Grants Center for continuing updates.

In a meeting with Cabinet members to discuss implementation of the recovery plan, Vice President Joe Biden reported:

Prospective grantees and others interested in the broadband grants programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are invited to contact the National Telecommunications and Information Agency to schedule meetings to discuss the funding with the agency. For more information, see the Federal Register notice published today.

The Office of Management and Budget’s Feb. 18 guidance to federal agencies on implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 may only be the first step. Auditing officials said that separate implementation guidance for state governments is expected to come out sometime soon, perhaps as early as next week. This guidance would focus on states’ roles and responsibilities in using recovery funds under the law. 

Stay tuned to the Economic Recovery Grants Center for all the latest updates on regulatory issues pertaining to the stimulus funding! 

Minutes ago, the House of Representatives passed the economic stimulus conference report by a vote of 246-183. As was the case with H.R.1, no Republicans supported the measure.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., has told colleagues that a vote on the conference agreement worked out yesterday by House and Senate negotiators will come to the floor for a vote tomorrow, Feb. 13.

After negotiating sessions that lasted into the small hours of Wednesday morning, Senate and House legislators have announced that an agreement has been reached regarding the size and scope of the final stimulus bill. Details have not yet been released, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters Wednesday afternoon that major differences between the House and Senate versions of the stimulus have been reconciled.

In a statement issued Monday, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn, warned House Democrats that his continued support of the economic stimulus plan making its way through Congress depends on strict adherence to the version passed by the Senate. Specter issued a statement saying that: "My support for the Conference Report on the stimulus package will require that the Senate compromise bill come back virtually intact including, but not limited to, overall spending, the current ratio of tax cuts to spending, and the $110 billion in cuts."