An American Lion

Hey, Joe Sixpack. Hey Middle America. Calm down. I know you have tough times. I know you’re down to your last. I know your credit card quit working Friday night after you stood in line at Wal-Mart with three screaming brats and a shopping cart full of food staples that were going to get you through Christmas and you had to walk out with your cheeks stinging and red hot with shame. Folks in Washington D.C. feel your pain.

They don’t know what you’re going through, however:

As struggling communities throughout the country wait for more help from the $787 billion stimulus package, one region is already basking in its largess: the government-contractor nexus that is metropolitan Washington.

Reports from stimulus recipients show that a sizable sum has gone to federal contractors in the Washington area who are helping implement the initiative — in effect, they are being paid a hefty slice of the money to help spend the rest of it.

The contractors’ work hardly differs from the basic operations of the federal departments hiring them. The Energy Department is paying Technology & Management Services, a Gaithersburg firm, $6.9 million to review applications for renewable energy loan guarantees. The Department of Homeland Security awarded Deloitte Consulting’s Arlington branch $8.6 million to provide “program management and support” for the stimulus plan’s $1 billion airport security initiative, and gave McKing Consulting, a Fairfax firm, a $1.5 million contract to review applications for fire department construction funding.

The problem is, those of you out there in the hinterland, living in the various red and blue states that playmakers fly over, you don’t live where you’re supposed to live, which is in suburban Washington D.C.

Don’t move, however. Goodness, we’re overcrowded as it is. Stay where you are, and wait for the help to “trickle down” to you. Be patient. All of those newly-unregistered lobbyists are working overtime to make sure you get yours, eventually.