PA GOP: Stimulus Fails To Create Jobs

HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released the following statement following the announcement that the national unemployment rate stands at 9.6 percent.
 
“How many months of high unemployment will it take before Washington politicians like Joe Sestak finally admit that the stimulus they supported was an abject failure?,” Gleason said. “If Joe Sestak voted for the stimulus to ‘primarily stop the hemorrhaging of jobs,’ as he put it, then why has the unemployment rate risen to nearly 10%?
 
“Joe Sestak voted for the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package and called it ‘a bit small,’ so what does he say about the 89,000 deceased and imprisoned people who recently received $250 taxpayer-funded checks in the mail because of his vote?”
 
“The fact of the matter is that the stimulus package has made our economic problems worse, and we have Nancy Pelosi, Joe Sestak and his extreme liberal colleagues to thank for it.”
 
In a February 22, 2009 interview on NBC-10’s Live at Issue, U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak said, “This [stimulus] package is primarily to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs.”
 
The Washington Post has reported that 89,000 incarcerated or deceased individuals received $250 checks paid for by the Sestak’s stimulus. (Ed O’Keefe, “Thousands of Stimulus Checks Sent In Error, Report Says,” The Washington Post, 10/7/10, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/07/AR2010100706054.html)
 
During a February 22, 2009 interview on CBS 3’s Newsmakers, Joe Sestak said of the stimulus package, “This bill is actually a bit small in my opinion, but it’s the right step.”
 
In addition to Joe Sestak,1st District Congressman Bob Brady, 2nd District Congressman Chaka Fattah, 3rd District Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper, 4th District Congressman Jason Altmire, 8th District Congressman Patrick Murphy, 10th District Congressman Chris Carney, 13th District Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, 14th Congressional District Congressman Mike Doyle and 17th District Congressman Tim Holden also voted for the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package. (HR 1 ,Roll Call 46, 1/28/09, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll046.xml)
 
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