Friday, July 17, 2009
Biden touts stimulus in pitch to Va.
The vice president spoke in the home county of one of Obama's toughest congressional critics.
Associated Press
During an event to promote the federal economic recovery package, Vice President Joe Biden (left) was joined on stage at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College by business owner John Fernandez and Richmond Police Chief Bryan Norwood. Virginia will receive $4.9 billion from the package.
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roanoke.com/politics
RICHMOND -- Vice President Joe Biden delivered an aggressive defense of the federal economic recovery package in a Thursday visit to Virginia and challenged Republican critics who argue that the massive spending program has failed to ease the nation's economic woes.
"We're fighting for the life of this economy," Biden said in an appearance at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Henrico County.
"We're fighting for the life of people who are struggling. We're fighting to get this back up and running. And the way that it has been characterized by people just gives an inaccurate picture."
Biden's appearance was part of a White House effort to promote the recovery package and counter Republican criticism that the $787 billion spending program has failed to produce the results that President Obama's administration promised. The event was staged in the home county of Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the House minority whip and a persistent critic of Obama's economic policies.
Biden repeatedly cast the economic crisis as a problem that Obama inherited when he took office in January and said the stimulus package "was not intended to pull us out of the ditch we were pushed into eight years ago, but to prevent us from going deeper in and begin to climb out."
"It has real, live, life-impacting consequences to it," Biden said to an audience of students, faculty and invited guests in a campus auditorium.
Virginia will receive $4.9 billion from the recovery package over a 27-month period and Biden said the money has helped the state and localities avert budget cuts to education, public safety and health care programs, save jobs, and begin critical road and bridge improvements. Gov. Tim Kaine said earlier this year that stimulus funds helped state government avoid massive furloughs of state workers and as many as 7,000 layoffs.
Biden was joined onstage by Richmond's police chief, a Chesterfield County teacher and a small business owner from Ashland, all of whom gave examples of how they benefited from the stimulus funds.
"To those who say our economic decisions haven't saved jobs, [that] it simply hasn't worked, I say look around you," Biden said. "I say don't let your opposition to the recovery act blind you to the results."
But Cantor characterized the stimulus package as a flop, saying it has failed to slow unemployment and generate new jobs at the rate Obama promised.
"It is common sense to measure the success of the stimulus bill on the immediate impact it has on the economy, not how many Web sites are created or signs erected claiming credit," Cantor said in a conference call with reporters.
Cantor laid the blame for rising unemployment at Obama's feet and said the administration is pursuing economic policies that will hurt small businesses. He also noted that Obama recently acknowledged that unemployment will get worse, "despite his promise that the stimulus will create jobs immediately."
Cantor questioned why the administration would "want to go and continue to tout success when the reality is people are losing their jobs, families are going into economic free-falls."
Biden argued that "the American people are a lot more patient than the cynics suggest."
"We believe that when the American people elected us president and vice president, they were demanding change," Biden said. "In the process, I think we're not only guaranteed a recovery, but this time the middle class is not going to be left behind."
Biden also was scheduled to appear at a private fundraiser Thursday evening with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds. Deeds did not appear at Biden's community college speech. The dignitaries at Biden's public event included Kaine's wife, Anne Holton, whom Biden mistakenly referred to as the "former first lady."
