Family Life

02.24.10 | FL News Team

The economic stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by President Obama is not the failure critics claim, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The agency says the 787-billion-dollar measure created more than two-million jobs, mitigated the unemployment rate by more than two percent, and boosted the gross domestic product by three-and-a-half percent. The CBO concedes the national economy did not perform as well as designers of the stimulus originally predicted, but it also points out that's not the fault of government or the stimulus plan. The agency, in its words, says the "outcome reflects greater-than-projected weakness in the underlying economy, rather than lower-than-expected effects" of the stimulus legislation.

 Most Republicans have been critical of the stimulus package, contending it created no or few jobs while worsening the federal deficit. But two Republican governors, Charlie Crist of Florida and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, have praised the plan for bringing jobs and money into their states.