The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Abstract

President Barack Obama promised that his administration would make a clean break with the past, setting new standards in transparency and accountability. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), one of his early legislative initiatives, marks a concerted effort to realize the promises he made during the campaign. This article examines the federal government's past, present, and future efforts at accountability and transparency in administering the grants-in-aid system. It presents and critiques the changes brought about by ARRA to identify its contributions to government accountability. While the act clearly makes some advances in accountability, many of the gains are the result of repackaging and emphasizing already existing accountability mechanisms. The article concludes with some expectations about the direction future federal grants-in-aid accountability and transparency efforts are likely to take.

Keywords:

• accountability
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
• fiscal federalism
• grants-in-aid
• Obama
• transparency