[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18490]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           STIMULUS SPENDING

  (Mr. OLSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, when Congress passed the American Recovery 
and Reinvestment Act, the administration argued that an $800 billion 
taxpayer-funded spending spree was necessary to create jobs. It was 
rushed through with no time to review the policies that would implement 
this massive spending plan.
  The administration sold this spending spree as a jobs creation 
measure. Yet, it turns out that jobs weren't a priority at all.
  A $3.9 billion stimulus funding announcement was made for smart grid 
investment grants by Vice President Biden in which he stated, ``This is 
jobs--jobs.''
  Well, the Department of Energy didn't seem to get the memo. 
Application forms for grants asked: ``Will DOE use the number of jobs 
estimated to be created and/or retained as a criterion for rating a 
proposal for funding?'' The grant guidance says: ``No.''
  Where are the jobs? Job creation was supposed to be the primary 
requisite for receiving recovery funds, and yet it was simply a 
reporting requirement. It was never about jobs.

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