Stimulus Credited for Lifting Economy, But Worries About Unemployment Persist

By Michael A. Fletcher and Neil Irwin Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, September 4, 2009
Half a year after Congress enacted the largest economic stimulus plan in the nation's history, the measure is contributing to what increasingly looks like a budding recovery, analysts say, but significant concern remains about rising unemployment and the initiative's contribution to the federal budget deficit.
With the Obama administration under fire for what critics call unrestrained spending and polls showing the American public ambivalent about the impact of the stimulus plan, officials are pushing back, seeking to highlight the role played by their polices in fueling a recovery.
Vice President Biden, making what the White House billed as a major speech Thursday, touted the role of the $787 billion stimulus program in lifting the economy.
"The Recovery Act has played a significant role in changing the trajectory of our economy and changing the conversation about the economy in this country," Biden said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession."
While some congressional Republicans and others are dubious about the success of the stimulus plan, economists generally agree that the package has played a significant part in stabilizing the economy. They are less certain about the size of the impact.
"It's starting to play a role, helping us to have slightly positive rather than slightly negative GDP growth," said Phillip Swagel, an assistant Treasury secretary in the Bush administration who is now a visiting professor at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business. "It's a gigantic amount of fiscal stimulus, and anyone who tells you it has had no impact, you should be skeptical of."
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