Congress to Florida: Speed up stimulus spending

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Florida ranks last among all states in spending its share of highway money from the U.S. economic stimulus plan, a congressional committee said on Thursday.

In a letter to Florida Governor Charlie Crist, the committee's chairman, Rep. James Oberstar, wrote that as of June 30, Florida had begun construction on highway projects totaling only 2 percent of the $1.346 billion set aside for it in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"I strongly urge you to refocus your efforts to implement the Recovery Act and use the available funds to create and sustain family-wage jobs," said Oberstar, who heads the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Oberstar made similar comments in letters to Hawaii and South Carolina, which were also among the slowest in spending stimulus funds.

Hawaii has not started any construction work, while South Carolina's projects underway totaled 3 percent, the committee found.

A committee spokeswoman said the rankings were determined using a weighted formula. Although Hawaii had no projects underway, it has put more out to bid and has more work under contract than Florida, she said.

This week -- nearly six months since the two-year, $787 billion plan was enacted -- President Barack Obama and his administration have worked to convince taxpayers that the stimulus has alleviated some of the pain of the recession.

Some legislators and economists have raised concerns that funds are not being spent fast enough to limit the country's high job losses, and have fretted that construction money could be distributed so late it misses the prime summer months for outdoor work.

On Thursday, White House economic adviser Christina Romer said since the stimulus program was started, "an economy that was in freefall has stabilized substantially and looks as though it could begin to recover in the second half of the year."

In terms of getting highway money out the door fastest, Wyoming is first, followed by New Hampshire and Oklahoma, the committee found.

Oberstar called Wyoming "a model for other states around the nation," noting it had begun projects representing 76 percent of its $157.62 million allotment.

The committee said that as of June 30, projects representing of 48.8 percent of the stimulus highway funds are out to bid, 32.1 percent are under contract, and 22.9 percent have begun.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert, additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Neil Stempleman)