Obama Administration pushing more spending – Second Stimulus
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama called for a major new burst of federal spending Tuesday, perhaps $150 billion or more, aiming to jolt the wobbly economy into a stronger recovery and reduce painfully persistent double-digit unemployment.
Despite Republican criticism concerning record federal deficits, Obama said the U.S. has had to “spend our way out of this recession” with so many people out of work but insisted he was still mindful of a need to confront soaring deficits. More than 7 million Americans have lost their jobs since the recession began two years ago, and the jobless rate stands at 10 percent, statistics Obama called “staggering.”
Congressional approval would be required for the new spending.
“We avoided the depression many feared,” Obama said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. But he added, “Our work is far from done.”
It was the third time in a week the president had presided over a high-profile event on jobs, responding to rising pleas in Congress that he spend more time discussing unemployment as midterm election season draws near.
Obama proposed new spending for highway and bridge construction, for small business tax cuts and for retrofitting millions of homes to make them more energy-efficient. He said 
he wanted to extend economic stimulus programs to keep unemployment insurance from expiring for millions of out-of-work Americans and to help laid-off workers keep their health insurance. He proposed an additional $250 apiece in stimulus spending for seniors and veterans and aid to state and local governments to discourage them from laying off teachers, police officers and firefighters.
On Capitol Hill, estimates of a potential jobs bill range from $75 billion to $150 billion, said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House.
For the rest of this article please go here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091209/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_jobs
Face Forward Comments:
It defies all logic. Other than creating another slush fund for the Democrats to run their pet projects out of, another “Stimulus Package” makes no sense. Every lawmaker in America took heat from the “tax payers”over the first package. It was in large part what kicked off the tea parties. This is just another example of the government not listening to the people that are paying the bill.
Everyone has heard about the jobs saved or created that weren’t not really there. One of the more famous ones was the Georgia district that claimed (in support of Obama) that it has saved 9 out of 5 jobs. I guess they forgot to save the math teacher’s job. So far, the cost of creating a single job is running about $250,000.
The Obama administration has spent around $217 billion of the stimulus funds. The Republican party, which opposes another stimulus package, points out some of the wasteful pet project that have been funded by the Democratic controlled administration. The money is still being accounted for but it looks like pure waste could run as high as 25%. If you add the mismanagement and overspending on needed projects, the waste could run as high as 50 percent.
Here are just a few the more blatantly stupid projects uncovered
$5 million grant from the Department of Energy to create a geothermal energy system for the EMPTY Oak Ridge City Center shopping mall in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Penn State University received $1.57 million to search for fossils in Argentina
A liberal-leaning theater in Minnesota, In the Heart of the Beast, named after a famous quote by communist leader Che Guevara, received $100,000 for socially conscious puppet shows.
$6 million that went to the New York advertising firm Young & Republican to advertise the transition from analog to digital television. GOP lawmakers criticized the project for only creating three jobs.
$4.7 million that Lockheed Martin received to conduct advance research of supersonic jet travel
$2 million in stimulus funds that went to pay for new pipes to pump recycled water to the Sharp Park Golf Course, which the San Francisco City Council considered closing because of the threat it posed to the California red-legged frog.
$2 million in stimulus money went to build a replica railroad as a tourist attraction in Carson City, Nev.
A dinner cruise company based in Chicago received nearly $1 million in funds to combat terrorism.
Half a million dollars went to Arizona State University to study the genetic makeup of ants to determine distinctive roles in ant colonies;
$450,000 went to the University of Arizona to study the division of labor in ant colonies.
The State University of New York at Buffalo won $390,000 to study young adults who drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana.
The National Institutes of Health got $219,000 in funds to study whether female college students are more likely to “hook up” after drinking alcohol.
The University of Hawaii collected $210,000 to study the learning patterns of honeybees
$700,000 went to help crab fishermen in Oregon recover lost crab pots.
If the government wants to create real jobs in America, it’s simple. Do whatever it takes to get our manufacturing sector back, let us drill for oil and gas on our own lands, build nuclear plants and stop trying to hand over our sovereignty to the UN through the ridiculous cap and trade taxes that are being proposed.
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