U.S. & World

NEW YORK (CBS) ― So $787 billion is a big number for the White House's economic stimulus package, but why so much and where is it all going to go? The Web wants to know.

Following through on then-candidate Barack Obama's promise of more transparency in government, the official White House Web site for the effort, Recovery.gov, breaks down the package in broad terms:

$288 billion ... Tax Relief*
$144 billion ... State and Local Fiscal Relief*
$111 billion ... Infrastructure and science
$81 billion ... Protecting the Vulnerable
$59 billion ... Health Care
$53 billion ... Education and Training
$43 billion ... Energy
$8 billion ... Other

* Where "Tax Relief" includes $15 billion for Infrastructure and Science, $61 billion for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 billion for Education and Training and $22 billion for Energy, so total funds are $126 billion for Infrastructure and Science, $142 billion for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 billion for Education and Training, and $65 billion for Energy.

Got that?

During congressional debate on the bill, Republicans complained about not being given enough time to read through the 1,000+ page bill. For citizens looking to take a run at the document themselves, copies may be read and commented on via the Web site ReadTheStimulus.org. The text of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, aka the House Stimulus Bill, was made searchable with comments on each page. Even more, actual dollar appropriations from the bill have been posted by volunteers into a Google Documents which can be viewed online or downloaded into any desktop spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. The Senate version of the bill is currently available in text or PDF formats.

Last week the Associated Press broke down the stimulus package plan in terms American households could understand. Millions of workers can expect to see about $13 extra in their weekly paychecks, starting around June, from a new $400 tax credit to be doled out through the rest of the year. The government will pick up 65 percent of the total cost of COBRA program premiums for the first nine months when workers lose their jobs and seek interim health insurance coverage. There's a 30 percent tax credit of up to $1,500 for the purchase of a highly efficient residential air conditioners, heat pumps or furnaces.

To help hold the powerful to account, bloggers and foundations also have stepped in to analyze and illustrate this record-breaking, recession-busting, debt-raising federal action.

OpenSecrets.org is the granddaddy of online public accountability Web sites, tracking money from the presidential level down to the local ZIP code level. Sections, databases and related partner sites offer access to data on lobbyists, government officials' financial disclosures, people who move between the private section and the agencies which monitor them and officials' paid travel records.

WashingtonWatch.com estimates the average cost per individual of each bill introduced in Congress. The site calculates H.R. 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is going to have a price tag of $3,274.66 per U.S. family.

Bailoutsleuth.com, a brainchild of entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, monitors the government's purchase and sale of bad mortgages and other distressed assets.

EarmarkWatch.org, a project of the Sunlight Foundation and Taxpayers for Common Sense, measures inserts made by members of Congress into the various appropriations bills that direct funds to a specific project or recipient. (Tax Payers For Common Sense also provides a means to download a spreadsheet of items earmarked by congressmen.)

MAPLight.org examines the economic stimulus package in terms of which interest groups put their money where their mouths were, so to speak, as both supporters and opponents of the bill itself and various elected officials' campaigns.

GovTrack.us allows site users to create custom e-mail alerts and news feeds to stay informed on specific congressmen, additions and changes to bill, and specific interest issues.

Other sites online which provide data and tools for vigiliant citizens include FedSpending.org, ContractorMisconduct.org, FollowTheMoney.org, GovernmentDocs.org, Congressional Research Reports for the People, and Watchdog.net.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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