Arguments in Washington over the pace and effectiveness of spending the stimulus appropriations continued yesterday, with President Obama and Vice President Biden promising to increase the pace of spending to save and create jobs, while House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa complained about the lack of any mechanism for tracking and monitoring the expenditures. At the beginning of yesterday's Cabinet meeting, President Obama announced that 150,000 jobs have been saved in the first 110 days since enactment of the legislation, and promised to create or save 600,000 more jobs in the next three months by speeding up the pace of spending. Vice President Biden added "What we're talking about here is putting some pace on the ball."
President Obama contends that the infrastructure and safeguards for spending the remaining $675 billion in stimulus appropriations is in place, and added, "... you haven't heard a bunch of scandals - knock on wood - so far." Before the cabinet meeting began, Representative Issa complained that "[President Obama] has put in place an impossible scenario where the federal bureaucracy will be asked to absorb and disburse an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars without any reliable mechanism in place to track and monitor stimulus spending."
President Obama contends that the infrastructure and safeguards for spending the remaining $675 billion in stimulus appropriations is in place, and added, "... you haven't heard a bunch of scandals - knock on wood - so far." Before the cabinet meeting began, Representative Issa complained that "[President Obama] has put in place an impossible scenario where the federal bureaucracy will be asked to absorb and disburse an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars without any reliable mechanism in place to track and monitor stimulus spending."
