MARIETTA - U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) said more than $6.2 million in stimulus funding is listed on the government's Web site as going to congressional districts in Georgia that do not exist - which is absolutely true.

It can be seen on government spreadsheets, and even the board that oversees Recovery.org admits it.

So what is going on?

The answer, said Edward Pound, director of communications for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, is "no mystery."

Simply, "Some recipients (of stimulus money), in submitting the data, entered the wrong districts," he told the Journal on Wednesday.

Cheryl Arvidson, the assistant director of communications, acknowledges that the issue is "very significant," and said Earl Devaney, the chairman of the recovery board, will be drilled on it when he testifies before a House committee today.

According to spreadsheets from Recovery.org - and noted in a press release from Gingrey's office - more than $2 million went to companies in Georgia's nonexisting 00 Congressional District. And nearly $4 million went to the phantom districts 14, 19, 21, 25, 27, and 86.

Georgia only has congressional districts 1 through 13.

The recipient of $217,934 that reportedly operates in the enigmatic 14th Congressional District is, however, a housing authority for the city of Dawson, which is located in southwest Georgia, in Terrell County, in Congressional District 2.

The Journal contacted Jean Highsmith, the housing authority's executive director, on Wednesday and asked her about the stimulus money. She said the housing authority is in the state Senate's 14th District, not the 14th Congressional District, and it is "very likely" that the housing authority made an error when reporting back to the U.S. government.

When a recipient receives stimulus money, they are required to register on an internal government site, federalreporting.gov, Arvidson said.

"Then, they fill out lots of questions, such as how much they got, the status, information about sub-contractors, the number of jobs created," she said. "One element they have to fill in is congressional district. Some people either just don't know their congressional district or made a mistake. They may have been confused with legislative districts."

Once the recipients complete the reports, the federal agencies that give out the money review them for "glaring errors," Arvidson said.

"Whether or not (a congressional district) was one they looked at, I don't know," she said.

Nevertheless, once the reports are reviewed, they are moved from the internal government Web site to the public Web site, recovery.org, and are posted exactly as they are sent.

"They cannot be changed by recovery.org," Arvidson said.

She said the recovery.org board is looking at how it can make adjustments before the next reporting period in January.

Gingrey and other Republicans across the country question what else is being missed if the federal agencies and oversight boards are posting and overlooking reported data such as congressional districts.

"The White House's own Web site that was designed to tout their 'successes' is just another example of the mismanagement and undocumented results that have plagued the stimulus legislation from the beginning," Gingrey told the Journal Wednesday.

An example of additional things that might be missed by federal agencies when looking at the reports are the numbers of jobs said to have been created by the stimulus legislation, Republicans and conservative bloggers have noted.

Gingrey said that, on top of the fact that nearly $4 million was stated as going to non-existing congressional districts, recovery.org reported that zero jobs were created with that money.

Elaborating on jobs and continuing to bash the stimulus bill, Gingrey said, "The question still stands: where are the jobs? Over 3 million jobs have been lost since the so-called stimulus bill was signed into law by President Obama, and unemployment has hit a 26-year record of 10.2 percent. Over 15 million Americans are looking for work. Now, there is talk in Congress of passing a second 'stimulus' bill. The Democrats' first bill clearly didn't work, why should we pass another one?"

Defending the bill, and addressing the issue of erroneous reports, G. Edward DeSeve, special advisor to Obama, wrote a blog on the White House's Web site.

"The reports were due just 10 days after the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30th, and were posted on Recovery.gov just 20 days later. More than 130,000 such reports were filed," he wrote.

"We fully agree with those who find the mistakes in the data frustrating - and we've been working with the Recovery Board to find the mistakes, and fix them ... Yes, it is 'silly' that Recovery.gov shows that a project went to the 15th Congressional District in Arizona - when there is no such district. But a 'click' on the project details gives you the address, and a check on the address shows it is in Arizona's 3rd district. All this shows is that when people send in 130,000 reports, some will have silly mistakes. But it doesn't really undermine the ability of the public to track and follow the data - or the fact that real jobs have been created," he wrote.