Issa Statement on White House Stimulus Jobs Claim

WASHINGTON, DC – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) released the following statement on the Obama Administration’s claim that the $862 billion stimulus law has now “saved or created” between 2.5 million and 3.6 million jobs:

“The Administration’s new stimulus jobs ‘saved and created’ claim lacks a basis in reality.  Less than a year ago, the Recovery Board abandoned effortsto count jobs saved or created by the stimulus and decided to instead count jobs paid for with stimulus funds regardless of whether or not they were ever in jeopardy of being lost.  The reality for the American people is that we have lost 2.3 million jobs since the stimulus passed and are now 7.4 million jobs short of the president’s promised level of jobs the economy would support by 2010.  The country is suffering through 9.5% unemployment and this doesn’t even count Americans who have given up on their job search.

“Instead of spending millions of taxpayer dollars on stimulus signs and press conferences to pat themselves on the back, the Administration should focus on fixing broken efforts to create jobs. Today’s announcement is yet another part of a troubling pattern by this Administration to intentionally mislead the American people about the effects of its anti-business, anti-job policies.”