GOP Takes Democrats to Task on Stimulus Claims

Call it (200) Days of Stimulus.

The Republican National Committee has released a report (via Politico) marking the 200th day of the stimulus package by identifying 200 economic claims by the Obama administration and congressional Democrats that the GOP says don't match reality. In the report's introduction, RNC Chairman Michael Steele calls the stimulus "another failed experiment by the President that Americans cannot afford," and adds, "Two hundred days of this stimulus are 200 days too long."

Chief among the assertions targeted by the RNC is the claim that 3.5 million jobs would be created by the stimulus. Instead, the report says, unemployment has climbed and 2.2 million jobs have been lost. President Obama has said that 150,000 jobs could be attributed to stimulus spending in the first 100 days, and an administration estimate in June cited an additional 600,000 jobs either saved or created this summer. Because the counts depend on estimating what would have occurred had there been no stimulus spending, figuring out exactly how many jobs have been saved, created or lost due to the stimulus will likely remain a subject of fierce debate.