Des Moines, IA – Today, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman AJ Spiker released the following statement on the third anniversary of President Obama signing the so-called stimulus bill into law:

“Three years after President Obama signed his massive stimulus spending bill into law, it’s clear that even by the President’s own standards, the so-called ‘stimulus bill’ has been a failure.” said Chairman Spiker.

Just three short years ago, President Obama promised that his $825 billion so-called stimulus bill would save or create 3.5 million jobs and keep unemployment below 8% – but since then, we’ve lost more than one million jobs and unemployment has remained above 8% for a record period. What’s even worse is that while Americans are demanding a more responsible, efficient government, President Obama’s 2012 budget calls for even more spending and even more taxes.”

“Iowa voters have had enough of President Obama’s failed promises and out-of-control spending. It’s time for new leadership in Washington that can keep spending under control and actually improve our economy, not another four years of economic hardship” Chairman Spiker continued.

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On Friday, February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law.  Three years later, it has clearly failed by the president’s own standards.

Obama and his advisors made many promises about the stimulus – all of which have proven false

• They promised millions of shovel ready jobs “immediately,” but those jobs are still nowhere to be found.
  • Obama himself later admitted that those jobs “were not as shovel-ready as we expected.”
  • They predicted the unemployment rate would never exceed 8 percent and would drop below 6 percent in 2012, but unemployment has been above 8 percent for 36 straight months.
  • Obama promised to lift 2 million Americans from poverty, but 6.3 million Americans have fallen into poverty since he took office.
  • Obama promised that spending money on “green energy” would create jobs, but many of those investments, like Solyndra, have failed and did not produce a green technology boom.
  • Obama promised to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015, but electric car production has failed to meet expectations.

Three years after passing the $825 billion stimulus, the economy is still struggling

• 12.8 million Americans are unemployed, and another 8.2 million cannot find enough work.
• 5.5 million Americans have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, and 1.1 million Americans have given up looking for work altogether.
• 1.2 million jobs have been lost since Obama took office.
• There have been 7.7 million foreclosure filings since Obama took office.

The lasting impact of the stimulus is massive debt and wasted taxpayer money

• The stimulus cost $825 billion of borrowed money and will cost even more once interest is paid on that debt.
• Billions of dollars went to companies and projects connected to Democrats’ political allies and donors.
• Half a billion dollars was sent to the now-bankrupt company Solyndra, which laid off 1,100 workers last year.
• Fisker Automotive received half a billion dollars in loan guarantees, and has since laid off employees and moved manufacturing jobs to Finland.

President Obama hasn’t learned his lesson: his new budget calls for more stimulus spending

• Americans are demanding a more responsible, efficient government, but Obama’s 2012 budget calls for more debt and more taxes.
• He wants billions more in stimulus-style spending, adding even more to the debt.
• Barack Obama has no plan to reduce the $15.35 trillion national debt – only plans for more reckless spending.