GOP Leaders Say Stimulus Is Failing After Six Months

House Republican leaders on Monday launched a fresh round of attacks on Democrats’ $787 billion stimulus bill, which they say has failed to deliver after six months.

“By any objective standard, the Democrats’ trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ isn’t working,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said.

“The administration promised the ‘stimulus’ would provide a ‘jolt’ to our economy and create jobs immediately, but 2.8 million more Americans have lost their jobs since the ‘stimulus’ became law. The American people are asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’” Boehner said.

Boehner and others are circulating a new USA Today/Gallup poll showing that 57 percent of adults feel the stimulus has had no impact on the economy or made it worse. The GOP attacks come on the six-month anniversary of the day the bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama.

“Thousands of Americans are filling town-hall meetings expressing outrage and disappointment at the policies of a Congress and an administration that promised to mend our economy and get people back to work, and that has only offered more spending, more deficits, more bailouts and more unemployment,” House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee also latched onto the poll and sent out press releases in the districts of 54 Democrats — all of whom voted for the stimulus legislation — calling on them to explain to constituents why they voted “to pile a mountain of new debt on their backs with no results to show for it.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) acknowledged that millions are still out of work but emphasized that the stimulus is having a positive impact, as evidenced by last month’s drop in unemployment and stronger gross domestic profit numbers.

A memo released by Pelosi’s office says that over the last six months, more than 30,000 stimulus-funded projects have been approved, $197 billion has been committed to projects to get people back to work and $53 billion in tax relief has been released.

“From coast to coast, the Recovery Act is already paying dividends for workers, families and small businesses,” Pelosi said.

Senior House Democratic aides said Republicans are railing against the stimulus bill even though they know they are taking advantage of the funds that are flowing into their districts.

“Republicans in Washington complain about the recovery package, but they can’t wait to be home to talk about its benefits for their districts. That’s the height of hypocrisy,” one aide said.

Another Democratic aide blamed Congressional Republicans and former President George W. Bush for creating the economic crisis.

“The GOP has no standing on this issue. In fact, many economists say that without the Recovery Act and the economic policies of the Obama administration, we could have experienced a crisis worse than the Great Depression,” the aide said.
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