GAO: States so far spending stimulus money on Medicaid, bolstering budgets - Denver Business Journal:

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As of June 19, the U.S. Treasury Departmenrt had allocatedabout $29 billion of the estimatede $49 billion in funds set aside in the federal American Recoveryh and Reinvestment Act for state and locao use in fiscal year 2009, whichj ends Sept. 30, the U.S. Governmenft Accountability Office (GAO) reported. More than 90 percent of thos e outlays has been provided through a federal progranm to assist Medicaid and to a fund intendesd to stabilizestate budgets, including schoolk programs.
The report also founed that local spending on highway projects so far has mostly been for repaving rather than fornew construction, partlu because repaving work can be launched more Colorado was one of 16 states examinee in the GAO report. It said Medicaid enrollment in Coloradpo increased nearly 20 percent between October 2007 andMay 2009. Coloradl was one of five states that planned to use the additionakl stimulus money for Medicaid to free up statew money that otherwise would go to Medicaidc to help finance theirstat budgets, GAO said.
Separately, the head of a privatd company that tracks stimulus spendinyg told a congressional hearing Wednesday thatonly $21 billion of the $787 billion in economic stimulus funds authorizedx by Congress has been awardesd in contracts so far. Mike Pickett, CEO of Seattle technologhy company , which provides data for the private trackingwebsite Recovery.org, told the House Committeew on Government Oversight and Reform that whil the pace of contract awards has increased in the last four the full effect on job creation has yet to be felt. Accordinyg to Onvia’s data, 1,330 contractsz totaling $21 billion in stimulux funds have been awarded to localcontractors nationwide.
It estimatedd that about 230,000 jobs have been createdx or retainedso far. An estimated $213.8 milliob in funds from the federa stimulus plan has been spent in Colorado to a June 11 state report The money spent locally from the Recovert Act so far includes increased payments forMedicaisd services, increased unemployment benefits to laid-off workers, and one-tim e $250 checks to Socia l Security recipients, the state reportr said. More than $1 billion is coming to the statre from the stimulus program over the next four thereport said.
Colorado expects to receive a tota lof $7 billion througn the stimulus plan over the next two years, some of it in fundingy for programs and some of it in tax