Perriello: Stimulus 'helped avert a Great Depression'

The Congressional Budget Office this week released its quarterly report on the federal stimulus package, finding that the legislation — although more expensive than initially estimated — has increased the gross domestic product and lowered unemployment.

Analysts at the CBO, a nonpartisan agency, found the legislation increased the number of people employed between 1.4 million and 3.3 million in the second quarter of 2010, and increased the GDP between 1.7 and 4.5 percent.

The CBO also found that the overall cost of $814 billion over 10 years is higher than initially estimated at $787 billion. However, the latest estimate is $48 billion lower than the agency’s January projection.

Projects in the 5^th District have been awarded more than $338 million, according to Recovery.gov, although it is unclear how many jobs that funding has directly — or indirectly — created or saved.

“The CBO’s latest report is an objective confirmation of what many already know,” Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5^th District, said in a statement. “The Recovery Act helped avert a Great Depression that was looming when I was sworn in, and has put our country on a solid road to economic growth.

“That being said, I’m not nearly satisfied, and I won’t be satisfied until everyone who can work has a chance to do so.”

According to the CBO, the effects of the funding on output and employment are “expected to gradually diminish” from now on.

In the 5^th District, according Perriello’s office, the hundreds of millions in stimulus money has gone toward a tax cut for 98 percent of families, saving teacher jobs, expanding broadband access, weatherizing homes, funding alternative energy projects and construction projects.

However, earlier this month, Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Wyo., and John McCain, R-Ariz., released a report detailing 100 stimulus projects that they called “torrential, misdirected government spending,” such as scientific studies researching monkeys and ants, or infrastructure projects that have hurt businesses — although none are in Virginia’s 5^th District.

Perriello’s opponent, Robert Hurt vehemently, opposes the stimulus. His campaign manager, Sean Harrison, criticized the small number of jobs the stimulus has created in the district, with unemployment here higher than it was last year.

“That math may add up to Congressman Perriello and politicians in Washington, but it doesn’t add up here in Virginia,” Harrison said in an e-mail.

Hurt, however, supported expanded broadband access at an April roundtable discussion with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and recognized the need for the Robertson Bridge in a 2008 statement on his General Assembly website. Perriello’s campaign spokeswoman, Jessica Barba, criticized Hurt for his stance.

“By opposing the Recovery Act,” Barba said in an e-mail, “Sen. Hurt is admitting point-blank that he opposes the largest middle-class tax cut in history, broadband internet service for 59,000 homes in Southside, and transportation infrastructure that is critical to attracting new business and economic growth. All while professing to fight for those things.

“It’s hard to know what’s worse: his hypocrisy or his disconnect with the experience of the working and middle class.”

When asked whether Hurt supported any of the local projects, such as the Robertson Bridge, Harrison said there “may be projects in the 5^th District that are worthy of federal funding, but they shouldn’t require a trillion dollars of additional debt and hundreds of millions in other wasteful government spending projects to get them done.”