Pelosi: We Must Build on Recovery Act Success and Stay Focused on Creating Good-Paying Jobs

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today on the one-year anniversary of President Obama signing into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

"One year ago, President Obama and Congress took tough action to bring America's economy back from the brink by giving most Americans the fastest and largest middle-class tax cuts in history, creating and saving jobs, and laying the building blocks for long-term prosperity.

"The leading economic indicators document the Recovery Act's success – 2 million jobs have been created or saved.  In the last quarter, the GDP grew at its fastest rate in more than six years, and most independent analysts credit the Recovery Act.  In December, America's manufacturing base grew for the sixth straight month and now stands at its highest level in five years.  As economist Mark Zandi said last month: 'The stimulus did what it was supposed to do: short-circuit the recession and spur recovery...it has been money well spent.'

"The Recovery Act gave a tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans and offered tax cuts and loans to millions of small businesses. We've put people to work rebuilding our roads, bridges, and rail lines, and invested in the clean energy jobs and the communications technology of tomorrow.  We've kept hundreds of thousands of teachers in the classroom and police officers and firefighters on the streets.

"At a moment of extraordinary crisis, this Congress and President Obama provided leadership for economic recovery. But our work is far from over.  Moving forward, we must build on the success of the Recovery Act, stay focused on creating good-paying jobs for our workers and middle class, and open the doors of opportunity to all Americans." 

INDEPENDENT ANALYSTS ON THE RECOVERY ACT

"We were looking over the precipice, possibly into a Great Depression...I think it was appropriate to enact a very aggressive stimulus bill. I think it is fair to say that, without the stimulus bill, state and local government budgets would be in even worse shape than they are now and that would lead to fewer projects, fewer employees and a net negative impact on local economies."  -- Robert Dye, senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group [Lancaster (Pa.) Intelligencer Journal, 2/17/10]

"A year after its passage, AARA funding for highways and public transportation created, supported, and saved transportation jobs and is leaving a legacy of economy-enhancing investments." – Janet Kavinoky, Executive Director, Americans for Transportation Mobility, a nationwide effort by business, labor, transportation organizations and concerned citizens to advocate for increased federal investment in the nation's transportation system.  [http://www.fasterbettersafer.org/home/press-room/news-releases/196]

"[The Recovery Act] prevented things from getting much worse than they otherwise would have been. I think everyone would have to acknowledge that's a good thing." – Nariman Behravesh, Chief Economist, Global Insight [New York Times, 2/17/10]

"We're in the game of predictions and generating forecasts, and there are six studies, the economic advisers, CBO, the IMF is now coming out with some numbers...we would be far, far worse off. And these studies are finding that...we stopped the bleeding....." – Bill Rogers, former chief economist, Department of Labor  [CNN Money, 1/24/10]

"Absent temporary fiscal stimulus and inventory rebuilding, which taken together added about 4 percentage points to U.S. growth, the economy would have contracted at about a 1 percent annual rate during the second half of 2009." – John Mankin, American Enterprise Institute [January 2010]

"The stimulus is the one of the very few bright spots our industry experienced last year and is one of the few hopes keeping it going in 2010." – Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractor of America [Phoenix Business Journal, 2/16/10]

SOURCE Office of the Speaker of the House