Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/with-jobs-still-elusive-white-house-defends-stimulus Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package has saved or created about 650,000 jobs, the White House said Friday. But with unemployment at a 26-year high, the administration is facing increased criticism about ongoing weakness in the labor market. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Now the latest claims on stimulus spending and job creation.Judy Woodruff has our story. U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Today does mark the beginning of the end, the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs. JUDY WOODRUFF: When President Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill last February, he said it would save or create more than three million jobs by the time the money winds down at the end of 2010.Today, his administration announced that stimulus spending has saved or created almost 650,000 jobs, jobs linked with roughly $160 billion spent through September, less than half of the money disbursed so far.Vice President Biden argued, the stimulus had already been successful. U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: We're no longer talking about whether or not we're going to slide into depression. We're arguing and talking about the shape of the recovery. And that's a gigantic change in eight months. JUDY WOODRUFF: Biden added that money for tax cuts and state aid has created or saved another 400,000 jobs, bringing the grand total to more than a million. JOSEPH BIDEN: When someone is getting another $60 to $80 in their paycheck, when someone's getting that one time payment of $250, it means they go to the sandwich shop, they get their hair done, they walk into the local drugstore, they walk into the local hardware store, and they're able to spend money for things that they need that wouldn't otherwise have been spent.That means there's a clerk that stays working. That means there's a waitress who is still on the job. JUDY WOODRUFF: More than 325,000 of the jobs were in education, and 80,000 from construction, including transportation projects.The figures were based on reports from state and local governments, private companies, and universities. The report was posted on recovery.gov this afternoon, the government's official Web site where the public can look at spending projects in detail.We get two views about the track record on jobs and the stimulus package. They come from Mark Zandi, chief economist at MoodysEconomy.com. He has advised both Congress and the White House during the current economic crisis and advocated on behalf of a stimulus package, and Chris Edwards, formerly a senior economist on Congress' Joint Economic Committee. He is now with the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute.Gentlemen, thank you both for joining us.CHRIS EDWARDS, Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute: Thanks, Judy. JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark Zandi, to you first.Tell us, how solid are these numbers?