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June 16, 2009

Sen. Coburn questions 100 stimulus projects

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is questioning 100 projects that have received or will receive funding from President Barack Obama's economic recovery program, including one in his home state.



Among other things, Coburn cited the repair of 37 rural bridges in Wisconsin, including one that is located in Portage County, Wis. It carries 260 vehicles a day, largely to a backwater saloon and a country club.



Portage County highway commissioner Bill Weronke says the bridge has reached its life expectancy and is dangerous.



Coburn also criticized using stimulus money for a new $5 million wastewater treatment plant in Perkins, Oklahoma. He says the stimulus money came with strings that will increase the costs.



With a new pricetag of $7.2 million, the city will have to borrow money and, as a result, utility taxes have increased by 60 percent this year.



Ed DeSeve -- a senior adviser to Obama for Recovery Act implementation -- says there have been some mistakes.



But he says Coburn's report includes criticisms of projects that already have been stopped or were never approved.

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