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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Thursday, November 19
Rutledge demands Congressional accountability for boondoggle 'stimulus' bill
FOREST HILL, Maryland - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Rutledge today called for a comprehensive independent audit of the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' program created and passed earlier this year by Congressional Democrats and demanded heightened accountability for taxpayer dollars spent to date on the government-run program.
Rutledge pointed to a report on the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act released this week by the Obama administration that claims the program has "created or saved" 640,329 jobs nationwide as a result of $159 billion in government spending - a cost of $248,309 per job.
And more than half of the jobs claimed were in education, the government sector, despite the Obama administration's earlier promises that 90 percent of the positions would be in the private job market, where this year alone millions of Americans have lost their paychecks and livelihoods.
"This Democrat-passed boondoggle not only blows a billion-dollar hole in the federal budget deficit through 2019 - further burdening our children and grandchildren with piles of government debt -but simply has not generated the number or type of jobs many Americans are desperately searching for right now," Rutledge said. "It's reckless and irresponsible and proves that the federal government has absolutely no business in the job creation business."
For the state of Maryland, the depth of reckless spending appears to be even greater. According to the government Web site Recovery.gov, which tracks the program's spending, the $3.1 billion of taxpayer funding doled out to date in the name of Marylanders has resulted in 6,748 jobs at a cost of $470,989 each. Well over half the jobs cited were in state government programs and agencies.
"Ms. Mikulski and her Democratic colleagues in the Senate should cease operation of this program and immediately initiate a comprehensive audit of every taxpayer dollar spent to date," Rutledge said. "This program is an abuse of the public trust and should not stand."
For more information about Jim Rutledge and his campaign for U.S. Senate in Maryland, please visit the campaign online at www.rutledgeforussenate.com.
Paid for by the Rutledge for US Senate 2010 Committee.
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