WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday that "everyone guessed wrong” on the impact of the economic stimulus, but he defended the administration’s spending designed to combat rising joblessness.
Biden said inaccuracies in unemployment predictions shouldn’t undercut the White House’s support of the $787 billion economic revival plan that has not met the expectations of the Obama team. Instead, he urged skeptics to look at teachers who kept their classroom assignments and police officers who kept their beats because of financial assistance from Washington.
"The bottom line is that jobs are being created that would not have been there before,” Biden said.
Just 10 days before taking office, Obama’s top economic advisers released a report predicting unemployment would remain at 8 percent or below through this year if an economic stimulus plan won congressional approval.
Yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that unemployment in May rose to 9.4 percent.
"No one realized how bad the economy was. The projections, in fact, turned out to be worse. But we took the mainstream model as to what we thought — and everyone else thought — the unemployment rate would be,” Biden said.
The estimates were based on standard economic models, he said on NBC’s "Meet the Press.”
by the associated press
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Showing posts with label Joe Biden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Biden. Show all posts
Monday, June 15, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Joe Biden links U.S. aid to Lebanese election
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that future U.S. aid to Lebanon depends on the outcome of upcoming elections, a warning aimed at Iranian-backed Hezbollah as it tries to oust the pro-Western faction that dominates government.
Confident its alliance will win, Hezbollah criticized Biden’s visit as a U.S. attempt to influence the June 7 vote.
Biden is the highest-level U.S. official to visit Lebanon in more than 25 years, and the attention shows American concern that the vote could shift power firmly into the hands of Hezbollah.
"The election of leaders committed to the rule of law and economic reform opens the door to lasting growth and prosperity as it will here in Lebanon,” Biden said. The U.S. "will evaluate the shape of our assistance programs based on the composition of the new government and the policies it advocates.”
The U.S. considers Hezbollah a terrorist group, and Biden’s visit was clearly timed to bolster the Western-leaning faction led by Prime Minister Fuad Saniora ahead of the vote. He expressed strong support for the government.
"Lebanon has suffered terribly from war, and we have a real opportunity now … for peace,” he said after talks with President Michel Suleiman. "I urge those who think about standing with the spoilers of peace not to miss this opportunity to walk away from the spoilers.”
Biden’s visit caps a transformation in U.S. policy toward Lebanon. It began four years ago after more than two decades of steering clear of the country long viewed as a quagmire. Pro-Iranian militants targeted Americans with bombings and kidnappings in the 1980s.
by the associated press
Confident its alliance will win, Hezbollah criticized Biden’s visit as a U.S. attempt to influence the June 7 vote.
Biden is the highest-level U.S. official to visit Lebanon in more than 25 years, and the attention shows American concern that the vote could shift power firmly into the hands of Hezbollah.
"The election of leaders committed to the rule of law and economic reform opens the door to lasting growth and prosperity as it will here in Lebanon,” Biden said. The U.S. "will evaluate the shape of our assistance programs based on the composition of the new government and the policies it advocates.”
The U.S. considers Hezbollah a terrorist group, and Biden’s visit was clearly timed to bolster the Western-leaning faction led by Prime Minister Fuad Saniora ahead of the vote. He expressed strong support for the government.
"Lebanon has suffered terribly from war, and we have a real opportunity now … for peace,” he said after talks with President Michel Suleiman. "I urge those who think about standing with the spoilers of peace not to miss this opportunity to walk away from the spoilers.”
Biden’s visit caps a transformation in U.S. policy toward Lebanon. It began four years ago after more than two decades of steering clear of the country long viewed as a quagmire. Pro-Iranian militants targeted Americans with bombings and kidnappings in the 1980s.
by the associated press
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Biben is backing College Funding
ST. LOUIS — Vice President Joe Biden pledged today to close gaps between family incomes and college costs to make higher education a reality for more young people.
Biden told a town hall-style meeting in St. Louis that he’ll the Treasury Department to look into how to make family college-savings plans more effective and reliable. Many families save for college in tax-deferred plans known as 529s, and Biden said the government will consider options such as low-interest loans against those plans to help families pay for school.
"We’re going to make a series of investments, investments in our families and our students," he said, noting the Obama administration’s efforts to improve tax breaks for families and increase need-based grants for the middle-class and poor.
Some 300 people attended meeting at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where Biden was joined by fellow Democrats Jay Nixon, the governor, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., as well as Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
Biden hosted the meeting as part of the work of the Middle Class Task Force that he heads at President Barack Obama’s behest.
To make college more affordable, the administration is seeking to extend its American Opportunity Tax Credit beyond 2010. The credit can be claimed for four years of college, running up to a maximum of $2,500 a year. It already has worked to increase funding for the Pell Grant program, which provides need-based assistance, but wants a system in place so money would automatically go to the program every year.
Biden said work should be done to consolidate student loan programs, to cut out private student lenders who currently act as middlemen on many federal student loans. He said that could save $94 billion over a decade. "We can take the $94 billion and reinvest it in more loans, more grants and more access to college," he said.
Biden said some critics say the administration is overreaching, spending too much and trying to take on too much. He said the nation must move forward as it tries to fix the recession.
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said in a written statement that he has been hearing from many Missourians in recent weeks who believe Obama and the Congress are spending too much money at a time when Americans are tightening their own belts.
"I hope while in Missouri, Vice President Biden listens to Missourians who are saying loud and clear that the administration’s budget taxes too much, borrows too much, and spends too much," he said.
Biden arrived in Missouri on Thursday, visiting Whiteman Air Force Base and a transformer factory in Jefferson City, where he highlighted benefits of the federal stimulus package.
by the associated press
Biden told a town hall-style meeting in St. Louis that he’ll the Treasury Department to look into how to make family college-savings plans more effective and reliable. Many families save for college in tax-deferred plans known as 529s, and Biden said the government will consider options such as low-interest loans against those plans to help families pay for school.
"We’re going to make a series of investments, investments in our families and our students," he said, noting the Obama administration’s efforts to improve tax breaks for families and increase need-based grants for the middle-class and poor.
Some 300 people attended meeting at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where Biden was joined by fellow Democrats Jay Nixon, the governor, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., as well as Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
Biden hosted the meeting as part of the work of the Middle Class Task Force that he heads at President Barack Obama’s behest.
To make college more affordable, the administration is seeking to extend its American Opportunity Tax Credit beyond 2010. The credit can be claimed for four years of college, running up to a maximum of $2,500 a year. It already has worked to increase funding for the Pell Grant program, which provides need-based assistance, but wants a system in place so money would automatically go to the program every year.
Biden said work should be done to consolidate student loan programs, to cut out private student lenders who currently act as middlemen on many federal student loans. He said that could save $94 billion over a decade. "We can take the $94 billion and reinvest it in more loans, more grants and more access to college," he said.
Biden said some critics say the administration is overreaching, spending too much and trying to take on too much. He said the nation must move forward as it tries to fix the recession.
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said in a written statement that he has been hearing from many Missourians in recent weeks who believe Obama and the Congress are spending too much money at a time when Americans are tightening their own belts.
"I hope while in Missouri, Vice President Biden listens to Missourians who are saying loud and clear that the administration’s budget taxes too much, borrows too much, and spends too much," he said.
Biden arrived in Missouri on Thursday, visiting Whiteman Air Force Base and a transformer factory in Jefferson City, where he highlighted benefits of the federal stimulus package.
by the associated press
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