Modern News

This from House Minority Leader Boehner’s office:

Washington, Nov 23 - The Obama Administration is now standing by its crooked ‘stimulus’ statistics just days after acknowledging the inaccuracies exposed by government watchdogs and excoriated by congressional Democrats. By choosing to stay the course, the Obama Administration continues to undermine its credibility at a time when Washington Democrats are getting ready to propose another ‘stimulus’ as the answer to double-digit unemployment and a $12 trillion national debt.

Phantom congressional districts and phantom jobs have solidified the American people’s view of the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ as wasteful government spending with fewer than one in 10 now saying the ‘stimulus’ has helped put people back to work. Americans are still asking ‘where are the jobs?’ but all they are getting from out-of-touch Washington Democrats is crooked statistics, unsustainable spending and more debt piled on our kids and grandkids. Republicans are offering better, fiscally responsible solutions to help small businesses create jobs and get the economy moving again.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama Administration will stay the course with its widely-discredited ‘stimulus’ claims:

Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is taking note of Washington Democrats’ crooked ‘stimulus’ statistics:

GOVERNMENT WATCHDOGS CITE “INACCURACIES AND CONTRADICTIONS:”

“Jobs reports ‘riddled with inaccuracies.’ The reports on jobs created or saved by the $787 billion stimulus package are ‘riddled with inaccuracies and contradictions,’ the federal watchdog overseeing the spending acknowledged Thursday. Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, told a House oversight committee that the board is taking steps to correct the errors…” (USA TODAY, 11/19/09)

“A new government report raises a new round of questions on the Obama administration’s figure of 640,000 jobs, saying there are many concerns surrounding the data recipients reported. ‘There is a range of significant reporting and quality issues that need to be addressed,’ said Gene Dodaro, acting comptroller general, in a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. … The GAO review found many questionable or erroneous data entries that it said merit further attention.” (CNNMoney.com, 11/19/09)

“PUBLIC CONFIDENCE … REMAINS SHAKY,” FEWER THAN ONE IN 10 SEE JOB CREATION:

“Public confidence in the existing stimulus plan also remains shaky. Only 7% of respondents in a CBS News poll released Tuesday thought that the stimulus package had created jobs.” (The Wall Street Journal, 11/18/09)

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 62 percent of Americans say the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ has either made no difference or actually hurt the national economy.

ACCORDING TO DEMOCRATS, “ADMINISTRATION AND THE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS MISREPRESENTED” TRILLION-DOLLAR ‘STIMULUS:”

“Democrat Rep. Michael Capuano defends the first stimulus… ‘The next one probably won’t be called stimulus because this one has kind of a bad name,’ Capuano said.” (WBUR, 11/23/09)

“House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) is fuming mad at the Obama administration over a slew of ‘outrageous’ reporting errors on an official Web site tracking stimulus dollars. ‘Credibility counts in government and stupid mistakes like this undermine it. We’ve got too many serious problems in this country to let that happen,’ Obey said in a statement.” (Roll Call, 11/17/09)

“U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak advocated for a larger stimulus plan in January and February and is now pushing for additional spending… ‘The administration and the Democratic caucus misrepresented (the stimulus) and created some false expectations,’ said Sestak.” (Delaware County (PA) Daily Times, 11/22/09)

EDITORIAL BOARDS SAY “GOVERNMENT CREDIBILITY TAKES ANOTHER HIT,” “ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE ADMINISTRATION:”

“Government credibility takes another hit. … We wonder why the ‘fine-toothed comb’ checking didn’t take place before the information was posted on the Web site since it was designed to let the public see how money was being spent. Transparency in government is valuable, but only if it is accurate. The kind of errors that led to the posting of unverified information only serves to erode the credibility.” (Sheboygan (WI) Press editorial, 11/22/09)

“Roads to nowhere: Stimulus dollar magic… If this were the first and only stimulus-related error, it might not be cause for alarm. But this follows other even worse howlers. … We have an administration that has been caught red-handed misleading the people about the number of jobs saved.” (New Hampshire Union Leader editorial, 11/22/09)

“Sorry, wrong number on stimulus. Giving citizens information on how federal stimulus money is being spent is a good idea, but only if the information itself is accurate, and therein lies the problem with the Web site Recovery.gov. Ed Pound, director of communications for Recovery.Gov, says that no one checks the reports for accuracy, and while federal agencies do sometimes notice a mistake, they have to notify the recipient, the only party that can fix it. … If the congressional district number is wrong, other information could be wrong, too. Without better quality control, the Web site is an embarrassment for the administration that doesn’t result in a better informed public and doesn’t inspire confidence in government.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune editorial, 11/23/09)