“You get the argument, ‘Well, this is not a stimulus bill; this is a spending bill.’ What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point.”
–President Obama, in a feisty address Thursday night at a House Democratic Caucus retreat in Williamsburg, Va. Frustrated by the quibbles of Senate Republicans, Obama called the delay to pass the $800 billion stimulus bill “inexcusable.”
Today’s bleak jobs report–the worst since December 1974–added to the sense of urgency: 598,000 jobs were slashed, pushing the unemployment rate up to 7.6%. Christina Romer, the chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, put further pressure on the Senate with her warning: “If we fail to act, we are likely to lose millions more jobs and the unemployment rate could reach double digits.” –Jessica Shambora
