111th Congress - 10/14/2010
With Unemployment Still at Record Levels, the White House Backtracks on “Shovel Ready” Projects
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis, a staunch and long-time opponent of the failed “stimulus” legislation, today criticized the White House for backtracking on several aspects of the bill that they had previously touted as a huge success. In an interview this week, President Obama finally admitted what most Americans have known for nearly a year – the highly-flaunted $800 billion “stimulus” has had little, if any, impact on the nation’s record unemployment.

“This week, President Obama finally admitted that the failed stimulus legislation spent billions of taxpayer dollars under the false pretense that there were ‘shovel ready’ government projects across the nation that would immediately create thousands of new American jobs. While this admission will bring little relief to millions of unemployed Americans – or to taxpayers who have now seen their hard-earned money wasted on bureaucratic black holes under the guise of ‘stimulus’ – hopefully it will be a wake-up call to Democrat leaders to stop the fiscal hemorrhaging that is bankrupting our nation,” Lewis said. 

The White House on the “Stimulus”: THEN and NOW

Then:

“Between this tax relief, direct aid, and shovel-ready projects, the Recovery Act has already put to work $620 billion dollars, and created or retained between 2.2 and 2.8 million jobs.”

   -Vice President Biden, Summer of Recovery Report, June 17, 2010

Now:

“During our hour together, Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called “tactical lessons.” He let himself look too much like “the same old tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.” He realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects” when it comes to public works.”

   - The New York Times Magazine, October 12, 2010