Obama, Biden Promote Stimulus
By Michael A. Fletcher
The White House will announce plans this morning to vastly increase the so-far sluggish pace of spending under the $787 billion stimulus bill.
Over the next 100 days, the administration hopes to boost spending as money is disbursed to fund an array of projects and programs -- from improvements in national parks to youth summer jobs.
"We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way," Obama said in a statement released in advance of a cabinet meeting where the program was to be discussed. "Our measure of progress is the progress the American people see in their own lives. And until that progress is steady and solid; we're going to keep moving forward. We will not grow complacent or rest. Surely and steadily, we will turn this economy around."
The economy, while showing some signs of improvement in recent weeks, continues to shed jobs, putting pressure on the administration to highlight the impact of the stimulus bill. Unemployment stands at 9.4 percent, the highest figure in a quarter century.
Consequently, some critics have questioned the effectiveness of the stimulus measure, which the administration has said would save or create more than 3 million jobs.
From the start, the administration said unemployment would continue to rise for some time despite the spending package, and that the stimulus measure would mostly cushion the decline before eventually pointing the way toward recovery.
During the first 100 days since being signed into law, the administration claims that measure has saved or created 150,000 jobs. As spending ramps up over the next 100 days, the bill is expected to save or create an additional 600,000 jobs, the White House said.
"We've laid a good foundation in the first 100 days of the Recovery Act and in the next 100 we plan to build on that foundation and accelerate our efforts so we can accomplish even more," said Vice President Biden, who is overseeing the measure's implementation. "We're going to get more dollars out the door, more shovels into the ground and more money into the pockets of workers and families who need it most."
Posted at 10:04 AM ET on Jun 8, 2009
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