Congressman Brian Bilbray Speaks Out On

 “Saved or Created” Jobs Language

(Washington D.C.)- Congressman Brian Bilbray (CA-50) took part in today's Capitol Hill press conference where six members of Congress questioned the Obama Administration's claims on how many jobs will be saved or created under Obama's stimulus plan. President Obama has claimed the stimulus plan, a plan that was pushed through Congress in the middle of the night, has already saved or created 150,000 jobs and will save or create another 600,000 in the next 100 days, yet the president has declined calls from Congress to provide his formulas on how he has arrived at these figures. Congressman Bilbray expressed his disappointment in the new president, and Congressional leadership, for a lack of transparency in the matter.

"California has more people out-of-work than many states," said Congressman Bilbray. "The people of California expect accountability during this recession, and the president needs to live up to his promise of open and responsible government if he hopes to keep the trust of the people. In this tough economic time, transparency needs to be number one."

Unemployment in the United States is currently higher than the president claimed it would be had Congress not passed the stimulus bill. This has led members of Congress to ask the president to publicly reveal the jobs-formula he used to create his projections. California's unemployment rate is currently 11 percent while the national unemployment rate is 9.4 percent. Obama's claims that the stimulus bill would hold unemployment at eight percent have been unfounded, and today 2.2 million more people are out of work than the administration predicted had the stimulus bill not been passed. The stimulus was passed, yet unemployment across the nation, and especially in California, has skyrocketed.

The transparency comment has been made before. Congressman Bilbray called for the previous White House to be more transparent on economic issues. "This isn't just an Obama Administration issue," said Congressman Bilbray. "The Bush Administration also needed to be more transparent."

The text of the letter follows:

Dear President Obama:

You recently reported that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) created or saved 150,000 jobs in the first 100 days since it was enacted. In addition, you announced your intention to create or save an additional 600,000 jobs through stimulus projects this summer. We are concerned about the lack of transparency in your administration’s methodology for developing these numbers, and are writing to request that you disclose the methodology to this Committee and to the American people.

While you’ve touted Recovery.gov as the go-to source for tracking stimulus spending, the site does not provide any information about projected jobs created or saved for each project funded with stimulus money. Rather, it appears that you simply rely on creative models to produce speculative macroeconomic forecasts of the national employment effects of stimulus spending. What are the underlying assumptions of these models? How can these models possibly produce estimates that are reliable down to the project level? On what factors and theories are these models predicated?

Your creation of the “jobs saved” metric is also troubling. It appears that no government agency, private sector group, or research economist has any idea how to reliably calculate and track this number. The creation of a metric that is not measurable allows your administration to advance job claims that are not subject to public scrutiny. This clever creation is a convenient vehicle for avoiding accountability. How can the American people understand what is being accomplished with their money if you do not even attempt to provide information about the employment effects of each stimulus project?

In addition, the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report on unemployment raises substantive questions about the accuracy of your asserted job claims. According to the May 2009 Employment Situation Summary prepared by BLS, the unemployment rate rose again in May, increasing to 9.4 percent, and job losses continued, resulting in a total of 14.5 million unemployed Americans. While 2.3 million Americans have lost their jobs during your presidency, you assert that the stimulus has so far created or saved 150,000 jobs. How can the American people possibly believe this claim, given the contradictory evidence, when your administration is unwilling to release the number of jobs created to date by each project funded with stimulus money?

Mr. President, you’ve repeatedly promised an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability for stimulus spending. Selectively harvesting convenient economic data and divining inventive formulas to create positive results does not fulfill this promise. The American people have a right to know how many jobs the Administration believes will be created through each project funded with stimulus money. We therefore request a full and complete explanation of the methodology and data used to compute your claim of 150,000 jobs created or saved to date, as well as your claim that 600,000 jobs will be created or saved this summer.  We also request that you immediately issue guidance to your Administration requiring the disclosure of jobs created or saved for each project funded with stimulus money.
     
Sincerely,

Brian Bilbray, Member of Congress, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement
Darrell Issa, Member of Congress, Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Jim Jordan, Member of Congress, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Domestic Policy
Patrick McHenry, Member of Congress, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives
Jason Chaffetz, Member of Congress, Ranking Member, Subcommittee of Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia
Jeff Flake, Member of Congress, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs

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