from the Democratic National Committee rec'd Feb. 12, 2011

Haley Barbour's Selective Memory

While President Obama has been working to win the future by out-educating, out-building and out-innovating the rest of the world, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour spent his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference fighting the fights of the past two years falsely attacking the Recovery Act as Hostile to job creation.  But while Barbour is living in the past he seems to have blocked out the part where he took billions in Recovery Act dollars to help balance his budget and other state projects, and even went far as saying that the Recovery Act has "made our fiscal situation better.” 
 
RHETORIC: HALEY BARBOUR SAID OBAMA'S POLICIES HAVE BEEN HOSTILE TO JOB CREATION AND THAT STIMULUS ONLY STIMULATED MORE GOVERNMENT. Barbour criticized President Obama’s economic politics and the stimulus during his speech at CPAC, claiming that the stimulus only stimulated more government and Obama’s economic polices have been more hostile to job creation than any other I have ever seen. [CPAC, 2/12/11]
 
REALITY: THE RECOVERY ACT CREATED UP TO 3.3 MILLION JOBS
 
Bureau Of Labor Statistics: Private Employers Added 1.1 Million Jobs In 2010, The Strongest Private Sector Job Growth Since 2006. “Today’s employment report shows that the unemployment rate fell sharply to 9.0 percent and private sector payrolls increased by 50,000 in January. Revisions to private sector payroll data show that 1.1 million jobs were added during 2010, the strongest private sector job growth since 2006.” [White House Council of Economic Advisers blog, 2/4/11]
 
Bloomberg: “Obama's Economic Stimulus Program Created Or Saved Up to 3.3 Million Jobs, CBO Says”: President Barack Obama’s stimulus package may have created or saved as many as 3.3 million jobs last quarter and lowered the unemployment rate by as much as 1.8 percentage points, the Congressional Budget Office said. The $814 billion program, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, probably added between 1.7 percent and 4.5 percent to gross domestic product for the three months through June, the nonpartisan agency said in a report issued yesterday.” [Bloomberg, 8/24/10]
 
CEA: The Stimulus Package Saved Or Created Up To 3.6 Million Jobs. “As of the second quarter of 2010, the Recovery Act has raised employment by between 2.5 and 3.6 million jobs.  This puts us well on track to reach the 3.5 million jobs benchmark by the end of this year.” [Council of Economic Advisors, 7/14/10]
 
…BARBOUR HAS ALSO TOUTED THE SUCCESS OF THE STIMULUS PREVIOUSLY…
 
Barbour: The Stimulus Has “Made Our Fiscal Situation Better.” FOX News reported that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said “We participated in the stimulus. It has made -- it's made our fiscal situation better. I wish we'd have a little more leeway in how we could spend the money.” According to the report, Barbour claimed that “the stimulus package is twice as big as it needs to be, which is why he initially opposed the program. But now he says he intends to work with it.” [FOX News, 7/17/09]
 
…AND BARBOUR TOOK $370 MILLION IN STIMULUS FUNDS TO BALANCE HIS BUDGET
 
November 2009: Barbour’s Budget Included $370 Million in Stimulus Funds. “Governor Haley Barbour today proposed a 12 percent budget reduction for most state agencies and called for the merger of some state agencies, universities and school districts in his Executive Budget Recommendation for Fiscal Year 2011. The $5.5 billion state budget includes $370 million in stimulus funds that will cease after the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.” [Barbour Press Release, 11/16/09]
 
Barbour Accepted All But $53 Million Of The $2.8 Billion Recovery Act Funds For His State. “In Mississippi, Gov. Barbour -- like other governors -- has pledged to refuse roughly $53 million for unemployment benefits out of the $2.8 billion available to his state, arguing the unemployment funds come with too many strings attached. In response, Mississippi's Democrat-controlled House passed a resolution late last week saying the state would take all available stimulus money. The resolution faces a more uncertain future in the state Senate.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/12/09]