VP Biden Shows Off Stimulus Spending

A swarm of Democratic officials descended on Carlisle, Cumberland County yesterday to tout the success of President Obama’s federal stimulus package. Vice President Joe Biden cut the ribbon on a road project to cap off the event. In early February, a week before Congress approved the $787 billion measure, Vice President Biden visited a crumbling bridge along Route 34 to highlight the need for infrastructure investment. On the first day of stimulus-funded construction at the site, Biden returned with Governor Rendell, Senator Arlen Specter, and Obama Administration officials. Biden says the legislation is doing its job, and helping turn the economy around. He says in recent months the rate of job loss has slowed, “[B]ut it’s still unacceptably high. It was over 340-thousand jobs lost. It’s not the 600 that it was two months ago or three months ago, it’s not the 500-thousand that was projected, so it’s getting better. But less bad is not the definition of success.” Biden and Rendell both went out of their way to praise their newfound ally, Arlen Specter. The Vice President said without Specter’s “yes” vote, the stimulus wouldn’t have become law. Specter was one of just three Republicans to support the measure.