Barack Obama to increase stimulus spending
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President Barack Obama announced Monday that he is ramping up stimulus spending exponentially in the next three months, allowing the administration to “save or create” 600,000 jobs — four times as many as during the first 100 days since he signed the bill.
“We’re in a position to really accelerate,” Obama said, unveiling plans to boost spending on national parks, summer youth jobs, veterans medical centers, police and teachers.
In remarks delivered before a meeting of his Cabinet on Monday, the president said he’s seen “modest progress” in the economy, citing job loss figures that beat Wall Street expectations for the month of May. Still, he said, the job losses are too high. “I’m not satisfied,” he said. “We’ve got more work to do.”
The president promised a surge-style acceleration of stimulus spending, which he said had already saved or created 150,000 jobs. And he had a few words for critics who say the stimulus isn’t working: “Tell that to the Americans who received that unexpected call saying, ‘Come back to work,’” Obama said.
Earlier in the Cabinet meeting, Vice President Joe Biden presented the Roadmap to Recovery, which the White House calls “an administrationwide effort to accelerate implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in its second 100 days.”
While the administration is sensitive to criticism that stimulus spending has been too slow, a new Gallup Poll showed danger in the other direction. For the first time, a majority of respondents disapprove of Obama on the issue of “controlling federal spending” (51 percent to 45 percent), compared with the 67 percent who view him favorably overall.
Could “deficit politics” return as the economy steadies? The poll suggested that the nation’s exploding red ink could be an issue in next year’s midterm congressional races.
Obama also will face increasing questions not only about the deficit explosion but also about the effectiveness of the $787 billion stimulus bill. Republicans say the “save or create” metric for jobs is meaningless, since it’s impossible to prove or disprove.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement to POLITICO: “I’m very skeptical that the spending binge that we’re on is going to produce much good and, even if it does, anytime soon.”
The president sounded a defensive note in his remarks, saying his administration inherited a collapsing economy. “Had we done nothing, I think it’s fair to say that most economists believe that we could have gone into a tailspin,” he said.
In a statement on the launch of WhiteHouse.gov/Recovery, the White House said the new Web page “will allow the public to follow America’s recovery story and hear from people across the country whose lives are being influenced by the Recovery Act.”
“The new site provides snapshots of Recovery Act dollars at work, the latest recovery news and opportunities for visitors to share their recovery stories through comments, photos and videos, while Recovery.gov remains the go-to site for tracking Recovery Act spending,” the White House said.
Some of the projects to be spotlighted by the administration:
• Department of Health and Human Services — Enable 1,129 health centers in 50 states and eight territories to provide expanded service to approximately 300,000 patients
• Department of the Interior — Begin work on 107 national parks
• Department of Transportation — Begin work on rehabilitation and improvement projects at 98 airports and at more than 1,500 highway locations throughout the country
• Department of Education — Fund 135,000 education jobs, including teachers, principals and support staff
• Department of Veterans Affairs — Begin improvements at 90 veterans medical centers across 38 states
• Department of Justice — Hire or keep on the job approximately 5,000 law enforcement officers
• Department of Agriculture — Start 200 new waste and water systems in rural America
Reader's Comments (1640)
Here let me help out the wingnuts: Obama is a marxist/socialist, spending tax payer money on providing jobs to tax payers. What is he thinking?
Government spending should be limited to awarding lucrative and ludicrously over priced contracts to the defense sector. War baby war! $$$
Excellent news. Monthly job losses are already starting to go down significantly and all because of the quick actions taken by the Obama Administration. Things are still hard, the economy is still in a recession and will be for some time but at least there are real glimmers of HOPE. As always It takes a democratic President to cleanup after a republicans mess.
President Barack Obama is announcing Monday that he is ramping up stimulus spending exponentially in the next three months, allowing the administration to �save or create� 600,00 jobs � four times as many as during the first 100 days since he signed the bill.
So is this a repromise or a new promise?
Does Politico mean promised four times as many not produced during the first 100 days or promised on top of the 66 police jobs in Ohio who have already lost their jobs?
Obama is seeing Europeans are fed up with the lefties.
Obama's honeymoon is over and the people are ticked.
Here are the projects to be spotlighted by the administration:
�Enable 1,129 Health Centers in 50 States and 8 Territories to Provide Expanded Service to Approximately 300,000 Patients � Department of Health and Human Services
�Begin Work on 107 National Parks � Department of the Interior
�Begin Work on Rehabilitation and Improvement Projects at 98 Airports and Over 1,500 Highway Locations throughout the Country � Department of Transportation
�Fund 135,000 Education Jobs Including Teachers, Principals and Support Staff � Department of Education
�Begin Improvements at 90 Veterans Medical Centers across 38 States � Department of Veterans Affairs
�Hire or Keep on the Job Approximately 5,000 Law Enforcement Officers � Department of Justice
�Start 200 New Waste and Water Systems in Rural America � United States Department of Agriculture
�Begin or Accelerate Cleanup Work at 20 Superfund Sites from the National Priority List - Environmental Protection Agency
�Create 125,000 Summer Youth Jobs � Department of Labor
�Initiate 2,300 Construction and Rehabilitation Projects at 359 Military Facilities across the Nation - Department of Defense
Bush and company have only spent for Iraq/Afghan. Time to invest in America
What a joke.
None of these jobs are permanent, just a band-aid. He's already lost a million jobs for America.
What about Small businesses. They are our nations employers.
What a joke.
What's going to happen is these GOV JOBs will require a sustained budget, PAID for by MORE TAXES.....
THE MATH IS SIMPLE Folks, Even G.W. could do it.
You'd find excellent news with anything Politico writes about Obama - good or bad.
How long can you keep up the charade?
Let me help you out: Obama is spending money he doesn't have, on programs we don't need, and he is most definitely not "creating or saving" any jobs - these are temporary, government subsidized jobs. Why not give the $$ to private companies to create "real" jobs - not these phoney, lean on shovel jobs awarded to Democratic contributors and their kids?
Hmm, More Government Jobs!
No Surprise here!
Yo' people, hope don't make it so.
8.9 to 9.4 unemployement - only by using Obama math does this equal "going down"
8.9 to 9.4 unemployement - only by using Obama math does this equal "going down"
So if the stimulus plan was such a dire emergency, why wasn't this "ramping up" done the next day, and not several months later? It's good to see the American public is finally waking up to these shenanigans.
2012 can't get here soon enough for me. I am psyched!
Summer youth jobs - yup, that is long term/sustainable... Just like all the others listed in the article.
For those of you that like being had - you must be in heaven!
Stimulus packages can work. Check out Australia. The country has a robust stimulus policy and is the only developed country which is not in recession. Further, defying the odds, it's ecomony is growing.
The move to the right in elections across Europe is a sign of things to come here. The Russian Federation. India and the PRC with radically different politics and governments are moving rapidly to consumer driven economies with private companies and industries flourishing with growth. POTUS Obama is on the wrong side of just about every issue. Volkswagon is about to join the power players in the auto industry (Nisson, Toyota, Honda, etc) while Chrysler and GM sink down the toilet drain under the unexperienced gudidance of Mr. Obama and his ilk. While "Politico" and the liberal MSM stateside continue to fawn all over Mr. Obama,. the reality is his fifteen minutes of fame are coming to a downturn within the next six months. Let's face it, this poor gent has not a clue as to what he is doing!!!
8.9 to 9.4 unemployement - only by using Obama math does this equal "going down"
SOURCE: REUTERS
Did you people just say he has saved 150,000 jobs in his first 100 days?
Still wondering why we think your reporting is biased? Has anybody read you the unemployment figures? Is it possible you are taking the position that Barry is actually SAVING jobs despite the rising unemployment?
PULEEEEEZE.
Ah but Corporate entertainer, the math obviously isn't quite simple enough for Liberals.