Stimulus Spending Hits $257 Billion

This post originally appeared on ProPublica.org and was written by Christopher Flavelle.

According to the latest available numbers, the federal government has spent $257 billion of last February's nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package. The number combines $164 billion in spending and an estimated $93 billion in tax cuts.

The latest numbers, which you can see on our interactive Stimulus Progress Bar, show a continued decrease in the amount of money "in process." That amount, which is the money that has been committed to specific projects but not yet spent, forms what you might call the stimulus pipeline. It gives an indication of the number of stimulus-funded projects that contractors and other service providers can bid on.

The amount of money in that pipeline, which peaked at $172 billion back in October, has since fallen steadily, reaching $150 billion in today's numbers. There's plenty of stimulus money still to spend—$267 billion to be exact, not including remaining tax cuts—it's just that much of it hasn't been obligated yet.

For more details, check out our Stimulus Progress Bar, updated weekly.