Ohio Dems blast Boehner on stimulus
Posted: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 5:33 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Congress, States, Democrats, Economy
From NBC's James Rankin
President Obama’s stimulus package has faced growing criticism recently for its slow implementation and inability (so far) to reduce unemployment and kick-start the economy.
House Minority Leader John Boehner added to the narrative this weekend with an appearance on Fox News Sunday, in which he claimed that the stimulus money had yet to lead to a single infrastructure contract in his home state of Ohio. In fact, as the Cleveland Plain-Dealer pointed out, 52 projects had already been approved at an estimated value of $84 million.
Video: As the effectiveness of the economic stimulus package is being scrutinized, questions swirled Wednesday around whether the Obama administration will propose another one. NBC's Lisa Myers reports.
Citing “multiple independent fact-checkers,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern continued to fight back in a press call this afternoon against Boehner’s claims regarding the economic stimulus. “John really needs to get home and listen to the people in his district. They’re pleased that stimulus dollars are being invested in the local economy and they’re pleased with the hundreds of jobs that are going to be created or retained,” said Redfern.
The state of Ohio was awarded nearly $9 billion in stimulus funding by the federal government, $1.4 billion of which is devoted solely to infrastructure improvement. Only $84 million -- 6% of the total infrastructure funds for the state -- has been approved for use.
Redfern defended the money spent thus far and the current pace of spending, adding, “We recognize that with a stimulus package of this size, the distribution has to be done in an orderly and trackable way.”
As First Read noted earlier today, Boehner's office responded to the Democratic criticism with this statement: "Ohio was very nearly the last state to get the first 50% of its stimulus construction money obligated for construction projects, which is ridiculous. As of late May, approximately, no contracts had been signed. Since that time, some contracts have been belatedly set in motion, but the entire process has been absurdly slow-moving."
