In considering the merits of President Obama’s latest stimulus proposals, it’s important to consider the reality of what the president and his economic team think and have said about the effects of his last such plan -- the stimulus plan he signed into law in February 2009:   What President Obama Said Today About the Effect of the 2009 Stimulus Bill in Terms of Jobs: “(W)e learned on… Read more

          Source: Ways and Means staff calculations, using Department of Labor and Department of Treasury data.     ###      Read more

1. "Jump-Start" Job Creation 2. When "Jump-Starting" Doesn't Work,Try "Accelerating" Job Creation 3. When "Accelerating" Doesn't Work, Try "Jump-Starting" Again   Nearly 10 months after signing his $787 billion stimulus bill into law, President Obama will host a Stimulus II Jobs Summit tomorrow.  According to the Chair of his Council of Economic Advisors, the purpose is to “jump-start… Read more

Washington, DC – In reaction to the unemployment claims data released today, Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) noted that these statistics are “a painful reminder that the Democrats’ stimulus bill has failed to create jobs.” “Unemployment rates and claims are not just statistics; they represent real Americans who are no longer receiving a paycheck to provide for themselves… Read more

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in a hearing this morning on Capitol Hill, said “If you look at any measure of the strength and stability and health of the American economy…it is substantially stronger today than when the President of the United States took office.”  That will come as a surprise to the 4.1 million Americans who have been added to the unemployment rolls since the… Read more

During the 2006 campaign, then-House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi unabashedly stated that, “Democrats are proposing a New Direction for America.”  As the table below shows, it turned out to be the wrong direction for American workers and families.   [i] Total non-farm employment in January 2007 and October 2009. http://www.bls.gov/data/#employment. [ii] Number of unemployed in… Read more

Due a sharp rise in the number of unemployed, reflected in the increase in the U.S. unemployment rate to 10.2%, the Obama Misery Index (OMI) continued its upward trend in October. The OMI measures the combined change in the public debt and unemployment since President Obama was inaugurated. Since January 21, 2009, the number of unemployed Americans and the U.S. public debt have soared by… Read more

CAMP: “Unfortunately, Mr. Vice President, your prediction that we had ‘hit bottom’ missed the mark.” Washington, DC – The official jobs data release today shows the unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent as 190,000 more jobs were eliminated last month.  Since Democrats’ failed stimulus law took effect in February 2009, a total of 2.8 million jobs have been eliminated.  This, however,… Read more

Washington, DC -- While the Obama Administration desperately continues its attempts to hide the failure of the “stimulus” bill, Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) today released a chart using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows over 3 million jobs have been lost since the start of the year.  “The American people – the millions of families who are out of work… Read more

The table below compares the White House's February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) with the actual change in state payroll employment through September 2009 (the latest figures available).  According to the data, 49 States and the District of Columbia have lost jobs since stimulus was enacted.  Only North… Read more