The symbol of the American recovery

This morning President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to disclose the release of nearly $30 billion in recovery funds to state and local Departments of Transportation for the repair and construction of highways, roads, and bridges.

The Obama administration also rolled out the new emblem that projects funded by ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) will bear. Take a look:


It's not quite as groundbreaking and recognizable as the Obama campaign logo, but it'll do the job. It's a nice representation of two important and connected priorities: environmental protection and economic security for all.

The President stressed in his remarks this morning that federal employees have an important job in scrutinizing how funds are spent:

Having inherited a trillion-dollar deficit that we're working to cut in half, we also need to ensure that tax dollars aren't wasted on projects that don't deliver results. And that's why, as part of his duty, Joe will keep an eye on how precious tax dollars are being spent. To you, he's Mr. Vice President, but around the White House, we call him the Sheriff - (laughter) - because if you're misusing taxpayer money, you'll have to answer to him.

And to help him, I've appointed a proven and aggressive Inspector General to root out waste and fraud. And I'm also deputizing every single American to visit a new website called recovery.gov so you can see where your tax dollars are going and hold us accountable for results.

By the way, Recovery.gov is being continuously enhanced, so don't hesitate to stop by often and check out some of the new visuals that the White House communications team is uploading.

The Obama administration's web team is a lot more adept at putting together a functional, usable website than Bush's people were.