The Watchdog News Network has developed a comprehensive list of fake Congressional districts to whom the White House claims they directed millions of dollars in stimulus earmarking. Take a look and you decide.
New Mexico Watchdog broke the story on Monday morning–the Obama Administration claimed to create jobs in congressional districts that did not exist. Those reporting errors, however, was not limited to New Mexico. A Watchdog study has found the stimulus has given $6.4 billion to 440 non-existent districts in all 50 states, D.C. and even four American territories. Click the links below to see what a Watchdog reporter has found in your state:
Alabama: 4 phantom districts
Alabama is the proud recipient of four new votes in congress, according to recovery.org, the web site tasked with monitoring the $787 billion stimulus package. Read the full report Here.
Alaska: 13 phantom districts
Alaska has experience population growth since the 2000 census, but it surely has not surpassed Georgia, a state with 13 actual congressional districts. Read the full report Here.
Either American Samoa has been awarded statehood or recovery.org has some explaining to do. The tiny territory was given three congressional districts on top of the stimulus funds that it received, according to recovery.gov. Read the full story Here.
Arizona: 14 phantom districts
Arizona experienced one of the most dramatic increases in recovery.org’s database of non-existent congressional districts. The $84 million stimulus tracking site monitored funds distributed to 14 phantom districts. Read the full report Here.
Arkansas: 9 phantom districts
The administration is doing its best to help the south rise again. Arkansas’ 6th District received more than 360,000 from the stimulus package, according to recovery.gov. That district, however, has not existed since 1963. Read the full report Here.
California: 9 phantom districts
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s public campaign for the stimulus has helped to create jobs in 9 congressional districts that do not exist, according to recovery.gov. Read the full report Here.
Colorado: 10 phantom districts
While the districts may be fake, the money is not. District 00, for example, received over $10 million. Read the full report Here.
What is most startling about the state’s 8 non-existent districts is that the most explosive job growth was found in the 42nd District. 25 jobs were created there, despite receiving 0 stimulus dollars. A rather odd development. Read the full story Here.
Delaware: 4 phantom districts
Delaware’s congressional representation has quintupled since the stimulus bill was enacted, according to Recovery.gov, as $10 million dollars was pumped into 4 congressional districts that did not exist. Read the full report Here.
Florida: 6 phantom districts
The stimulus package created or saved more than 100 jobs in 6 Florida Districts that do not exist, according to Recovery.org. Read the full story Here.
Georgia: 7 phantom districts
Millions of dollars in stimulus funds have been disbursed among 7 congressional districts in Georgia that do not exist, according to recovery.gov. Read the full story Here.
Guam: 6 phantom districts
The congressional districts are, of course, not real, but the money sent to each of the six is. The stimulus package presented the territory with nearly $221 million. Read the full story Here.
Hawaii: 4 phantom districts
The tiny island, which maintains two congressional districts, saw money pumped into areas seemingly out of the blue. District 15 alone received $40 million in funds. It is unclear where exactly that district is located.. Read the full report Here.
Idaho: 10 phantom districts
Residents of Idaho’s 5th District would have seen the benefit of $1.2 million, had they actually existed. Read the full story Here.
Illinois: 6 phantom districts
Federal stimulus dollars were used to help laid off congressional districts in Illinois, according to Recovery.gov. In fact, nearly $500,000 was directed towards the 20th District, which lost its job following the 2000 census. Read the full report Here.
Indiana: 5 phantom districts
The 18th District, for example, was given $2.2 million. Indiana’s population would have to double, in order to have 18 districts. Read the full report Here.
Iowa: 5 phantom districts
More than $10.5 million in stimulus funds were distributed to eight congressional districts in Iowa that do not exist, according to recovery.gov. Read the full story Here.
According to Recovery.org, the Stimulus has created or saved 5,934.8 or5,940.37 jobs in Kansas including 10 in the 9th Congressional district, nine jobs in the 8th District and three in the 6th district and two in the 14th. The 00, 99th, 5th, 76th, 68th and 36th districts saw no job creation. Of course Kansas only has four Congressional districts. Read the full story Here.
Kentucky: 9 phantom districts
Evidently the federal government has fond memories of Kentucky’s 7th District. According to recovery.gov, the district received more than $31 million from the stimulus package, despite being eliminated in the 1990 census. Read the full report Here.
Louisiana: 8 phantom districts
Louisiana’s 8th Congressional District would be happy to see that recovery.gov is reporting more than 300 jon gains through the stimulus package, if only the district hadn’t been consolidated in 1990. Read the full reportHere.
Maine: 3 phantom districts
Maine more than doubled its number of congressional districts, adding three more to its existings two. Read the full report Here.
Maryland: 15 phantom districts
The stimulus package distributed millions of dollars to 15 Maryland congressional districts that do not exist, according to recovery.gov. The state has only 8 districts. Read the full report Here.
According to recovery.gov, the state is slated to receive six new districts. Or they are just fake. Read the full storyHere.
Michigan: 10 phantom districts
Recovery.gov lists 10 new districts to the Great Lake State’s phalanx of 15 U.S. House seats. Read the full reportHere.
Minnesota: 11 phantom districts
The North Star state, of course, has a total of eight congressional districts. You’d never know it by logging on to the federal clearinghouse for all things stimulus. The summary page for tracking where the stimulus money is going lists Minnesota as having a total of 19 congressional districts. Altogether, the eleven extra congressional districts posted received more than $7 million in stimulus spending, creating or saving about 50 jobs. Read the full story Here.
The stimulus provided nearly $1 million to the 5th District, which was eliminated following the 2000 census. Read the full report Here.
Missouri: 6 phantom districts
Social security is younger than one retired district in Missouri that received more than $600,000 in stimulus money, according to recovery.gov. Read the full report Here.
Montana: 13 phantoms districts
According to recovery.gov, thirteen different congressional districts in the state reported receiving stimulus funds as of September 30. Montana has only one federal congressional district. The majority of state spending and jobs listed on the site are in the congressional district marked “00.” Read the full report Here.
Nebraska: 12 phantom districts
Nebraska’s three congressional districts better make room for the stimulus. According to recovery.org, the state has 12 other congressional districts that were until this point unknown. Read the full report Here.
Nevada: 4 phantom districts
In a state with only 3 congressional districts, one would think that it would be simple keeping track of where the money is going. This, however, did not prove to be the case in Nevada. Read the full report Here.
According to the summary of stimulus jobs “created or saved” in New Hampshire, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has created 3.2 jobs in the 6th District, zero jobs in the 4th District, and two jobs in the 27th District. New Hampshire, of course, only has two Congressional Districts. Read the full story Here.
New Jersey: 18 phantom districts
Millions of stimulus dollars were distributed to 18 Garden State districts that do not exist, the most of any state. Read the full report Here.
Other fictional New Mexico Congressional Districts receiving stimulus money were NM 40 (no jobs for $7.96 million), NM 4 (10 jobs created/saved for $4.72 million), NM 13 (5 jobs created for $3.3 million), NM 16 (no jobs for $517,980), NM 9 (no jobs for $100,000), NM 6 (1 job created/saved for $63,199) and the 25th Congressional District that received a mere $6,819. Read the full story Here.
New York: 11 phantom districts
Normally Congressional District 00 is a title suited for states with one at-large congressional district, think Alaska. Recovery.gov, the web site tasked with monitoring the stimulus bill, seems to think that New York, with its 29 congressional districts, should share in the action. Read the full story Here.
North Carolina has distributed more than $5.7 million in federal stimulus money to six congressional districts that do not exist. Read the full report Here.
More than $2 million was given to the 99th District of North Dakota, a state which has only one congressional district. In order to qualify for 99 districts, North Dakota would have to have a population of about 60 millionpeople, almost 24 million more people than California. Read more from this story Here.
The tiny territory was given five seats in congress, along with $44 million in stimulus funds. Read the full storyHere.
Congressional District 00 and 99 were two of ten new congressional districts listed as receiving federal stimulus dollars this year. Eight of those districts received money but did not create any jobs. Read the full story Here.
Oklahoma: 9 phantom districts
Oklahoma spent more than $1 million for every job it created in these phantom districts, according to recovery.gov. Read the full story HereU.
Oregon: 9 phantom districts
Oregon’s District 00 took home more than $3.4 million in stimulus funds. Read the full report Here.
All told, $12.6 million was distributed to five districts, which do not exist. Read the full report Here.
Recovery.gov lists millions of dollars being awarded to “congressional districts” bearing such distinctions as District 00, 99 and simply “congressional district.” It is obvious that the isle to our south has no congressional districts, but it is not clear what geographic entities, if any, the districts refer to.
Residents in Rhode Island’s 86th district saw nearly 60 new jobs develop in their community with the help of more than $10 million in stimulus funds, according to recovery.gov. At least they would be, if they actually existed. Read the full story Here.
Stimulus hopes to avoid economic collapse in district that has not existed since the Great Depression. $27 million. Read the full story Here.
$280 million in stimulus funds are locked in a district that has not been seen since the 1980 census. Read the full report Here.
Tennessee: 7 phantom districts
Phantom district with $40 million in funds unable to produce one job. Phantom District with $40,000 produces 3. Read the full story Here.
Texas: 7 phantom districts
The stimulus package sent more than $14.7 million to seven congressional districts in Texas that do not exist, according to Recovery.gov. Read the full story Here.
Utah: 4 phantom districts
Two well-funded phantom districts, a very surprising result. Read the full story Here.
Vermont: 7 phantom districts
Vermont has only one district, District 00. And that district received just under $75 million–nearly $320 million less than District 1, a district that has not existed since 1930. Read the full story Here.
Virginia: 12 phantom districts
Virginia’s 12th District may have been written off at the start of the Civil War, but it must carry some sentimental value in Old Dominion–it received more than $2 million, according to recovery.gov. Update to come.
Washington: 9 phantom districts
Citizens and taxpayers in Washington’s 39th Congressional District would be outraged to know that over $300,000 in federal stimulus funds were spent without a single job being created. They would be if Washington had a 39th District, which it doesn’t. Read the full report Here.
The web site lists billions of dollars being poured into 12 “congressional districts” in the Beltway. Read the full report Here.
Over a billion dollars has come to West Virginia thanks to the Recovery Act. $2,387,321 of that total is going towards eight fictional Congressional districts: the 54th, 9th, 4th, 6th, 12th, 13th, and 00. Read the full story Here.
Wisconsin: 6 phantom districts
The federal site also claims another $2,209,169 sent to six districts that don’t exist: the 00th, 9th, 10th, 14th, 39th, and 55th congressional districts. Read the full report Here.
Wyoming: 6 phantom districts
The stimulus sent 400 million more dollars to a non-existent district than to its actual one. Read the full story Here.
