Obama touts jobs created by stimulus package

COLUMBUS, Ohio - President Barack Obama pivoted from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill back to the economy Friday with an emphasis on the jobs created by his administration's $862-billion economic stimulus package.

At a groundbreaking here for the 10,000th road project funded by the stimulus, Obama said improving the nation's infrastructure is one of the keys to long-term prosperity.

"If we're going to rebuild America's economy, then we've got to rebuild America, period, from the ports and the airways that ship our goods, to the roads and transit systems that move our workers and connect cities and businesses," Obama said at the project site near the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Obama is seeking to remind voters of his efforts to revive the economy five months ahead of November's midterm elections. Republicans have criticized the stimulus legislation as a wasteful spending program that hasn't fulfilled the administration's promises on job creation.

Unemployment in Ohio is 10.7 percent, a percentage point higher than the national average.

"The economy is still lousy," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters before Friday's trip. "We want to put the message out: This is going to be the summer of recovery."

LaHood, who traveled with Obama to Ohio, said the project being highlighted Friday is expected to create more than 300 new jobs and is one of 462 transportation projects in Ohio funded by $1.1 billion in stimulus money.

The work will “pay dividends to our communities for generations to come,” Obama said. “While the recovery may start with projects like this, it can’t end here."
 

In a report to the president released Friday, Vice President Joe Biden said the government has spent $620 billion from the stimulus and created or saved between 2.2 million and 2.8 million jobs. He predicted jobs created or retained by the end of this year will number "at least" 3.5 million.

"We have created over 17,000 jobs in the last month" in Ohio, Republican state auditor Mary Taylor, a candidate for lieutenant governor, told reporters Friday before Obama arrived. "But it's an important fact to note that 16,800 of those jobs created were government jobs."