July 23rd, 2010
This week, the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan watchdog group, issued a report saying it had discovered more than $6 billion in federal transportation funding that has not actually been spent.
These unused pots of money, allocated by Congress for local projects, are called “disappearmarks.” The discrepancy is significant, since the nation’s transportation infrastructure needs an upgrade, and the taxpayers’ money was appropriated for that very purpose.
Need to Know teamed up with Blueprint America to check in with residents of Buford, Atlanta, where a highway dividing the town makes pedestrian safety a major concern. Local officials there say they could put those “disappearmarks” to good use.
Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.
