Reuters: U.S. stimulus effort to stress accountability

From Reuters:

As economic recovery funds flow to U.S. states roughly two weeks after President Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus bill into law, states, local governments and federal agencies are launching a large effort to track how they are spent.  Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden will hold a conference on Thursday with officials from each state on making sure the funds are spent correctly and that the public can scrutinize how the money flows.  "States have a huge responsibility in partnering with us to ensure that dollars spent as part of the Recovery Act are spent wisely, with transparency and accountability," said Biden in a statement.  Along with the vice president, whom Obama appointed to oversee implementing the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Comptroller, Congress and citizens will be keeping an eye on the funding effort.  "There are many implementation challenges to ensuring adequate accountability," Acting Comptroller Gene Dodaro told Congress this week in prepared testimony. "Experience tells us that the risk for fraud and abuse grows when billions of dollars are going out quickly."