Barack Obama to increase stimulus spending

 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