Today is the five-year anniversary of President Obama signing his stimulus package into law. President Obama promised that the stimulus would “save or create” jobs, but five years later, the country still struggles with high unemployment and record numbers of Americans dropping out of the labor force. The latest cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office says the stimulus added $830 billion to the spiraling out-of-control national debt.
Many vulnerable Democrats are trying to distance themselves from Obama, hoping the voters will forget they supported the first of Obama’s major policies. Among the endangered House Democrats who voted for the stimulus bill not once, but twice, are Reps. John Barrow (D-GA), Tim Bishop (D-NY), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), John Tierney (D-MA), and Tim Walz (D-MN).
These members can run, but they can’t hide from the fact that many still vote for Obama’s agenda the majority of the time, and they should be held responsible for the failed policies that they helped advance.