Obama unveils new projects, economy has 'long way to go'

President Barack Obama, trying to bolster an economy he says still has a “long way to go,” announced 10 projects aimed at creating or saving more than 600,000 jobs, according to the administration.

The plans are meant to boost the effectiveness of a $787 billion stimulus measure sought by Obama and approved by Congress in February. The projects will be a key focus of recovery efforts during the next three months and create or save four times more jobs than during the first 100 days since the rescue bill became law, according to a White House news release.

“We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way,” Obama said in a statement. “Our measure of progress is the progress the American people see in their own lives. And until that progress is steady and solid; we’re going to keep moving forward.”

The new projects are being framed as the beginning of a “summer of accelerated Recovery Act activity” by the administration and include new services at health centers in 50 states, work on 107 national parks, improvements at airports, highway locations and veterans’ medical facilities. They will also provide funding for schools to hire more teachers.

White House officials said on Sunday they are encouraged by a slowing rate of job losses. The economy lost 345,000 jobs last month, fewer than expected and the lowest number since September, the Department of Labor reported June 5.

Still, unemployment rose to 9.4 per cent, higher than the 8 per cent the administration projected when it pressed Congress to enact the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“Hopefully, that is a sign that this is turning,” David Axelrod, senior adviser to Obama, told CNN yesterday. “While it’s going to take some time for these unemployment numbers to turn around, for the momentum to completely stop and turn in the other direction, it feels as if we’re moving.”

Vice President Joe Biden, who later today will formally present Obama with the administration’s latest economic stimulus goals, said a “good foundation” was laid in the first 100 days of the Recovery Act.

“We plan to build on that foundation and accelerate our efforts so we can accomplish even more,” Biden said in a statement. “We’re going to get more dollars out the door, more shovels into the ground and more money into the pockets of workers and families who need it most.”

In the three months after the Democratic-led Congress approved Obama’s stimulus plan, the government doled out about 11 per cent of the emergency stimulus funds, according to a progress report released by Biden’s office on May 13.

The administration says it will commit about 70 per cent of the money by the end of the next fiscal year, less than the 75 per cent that White House officials projected in February.

Biden, citing “significant progress,” stressed in the May report that most programs and projects were running ahead of schedule and under budget.

The act resulted in 150,000 jobs being created or saved in the first three months, the assessment said.

The 10 new projects to be financed with stimulus funds include hiring or retaining about 5,000 law enforcement officers, starting 200 new waste and water systems in rural areas, creating 125,000 summer jobs for young people and initiating 2,300 construction and rehabilitation projects at military facilities across the nation, the administration said.

“We will not grow complacent or rest,” Obama said. “Surely and steadily, we will turn this economy around.”