Ambitious Goals for the Recovery Act

I've put the full list below the jump, but the White House has just released an extremely ambitious list of goals for departments and agencies to achieve under the auspices of the Recovery Act by December 31 of this year. On a macro-level, the administration wants to see 60 percent of the $499 billion allocated under the Recovery Act obligated to specific projects by that time. But Vice President Biden wants to see ground broken on a lot of projects over the next three months. It's a reminder of government's capacity--no matter what you think about the virtue or vices of that capacity, the federal government can do a huge number of things when some serious money is tossed in its direction.

· Batteries for Vehicle Electrification: By the end of the year, the Department of Energy will have put in place funding for battery manufacturing plants that can power 400,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, each year.

· Military Hospitals: The Department of Defense will begin 34 construction and modernization projects at hospitals and medical centers throughout the country over the next 90 days, for a total of 65 hospitals and medical centers with projects under construction since passage of the Act.

· National Parks: The Department of Interior will begin on-site construction improvement work in 105 more national parks throughout the country over the next 90 days.

· Small Business Assistance: The Small Business Administration will provide and leverage $5 billion in capital to over 12,000 small businesses through two key lending programs (7a and 504) in the next 90 days.

· Fuel Efficient Bus Purchases: By the end of the year, the Federal Transit Agency will have awarded enough grants to enable the purchase of approximately 10,000 new transit vehicles across the country.

· Housing Loans and Rehabilitation: By the end of the year, the Department of Agriculture and the Housing and Urban Development Department will have provided housing loans and capital funding to finance, build, or renovate over 100,000 households across America.

· Renewable Energy: By the end of the year, the Departments of Energy and Treasury will help fund renewable energy projects that will generate enough alternative energy to power 900,000 homes in the United States once completed.

· Road Projects: By the end of the year, the Department of Transportation will have obligated enough funds to support 10,000 highway projects.