Feb 18, 2009 4:31 pm US/Pacific
Rep. Lee Says Stimulus Will Add 7,300 Oakland Jobs
OAKLAND (BCN) ―
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Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland)
lee.house.gov
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said Wednesday that she wishes that the $787 billion economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama on Tuesday had included at least another $213 billion but she believes it will still create or save almost 400,000 jobs in California.
Speaking to reporters in the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland, Lee estimated that the 1,434-page American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will create 7,300 jobs in her district, which encompasses Oakland and surrounding cities.
Lee said she wished that the bill would have created more jobs, stating, "I wanted the bill to be $1 trillion."
However, Lee said negotiations and amendments trimmed the amount of money in the bill.
The bill includes $10 billion for school modernization projects, including $30 million for such projects in Oakland's schools, according to Lee.
"I want to get the word out to my district about what is in the package and how communities can position themselves go get dollars," Lee said.
According to a fact sheet distributed by Lee, California is projected to receive more than $26 billion in economic recovery funding under the stimulus bill.
Among the items included are $1.7 billion for supplemental nutritional assistance, $2.6 billion for highway funding, $4.8 billion for a "state stabilization fund" aimed at helping balance the state's budget, more than $1 billion for transit projects, $224 million for the state's energy program and $192 million for weatherization projects.
Some critics have complained that the final version of the stimulus bill was rushed through Congress less than 24 hours after House and Senate conferees had agreed to it.
But Lee said, "We've been working on the bill for a few months" and "the majority knew what was in it."
Although President Obama didn't sign the bill until three days after it was approved by Congress, Lee said the legislation was "an emergency bill," was "transparent" and was debated during lengthy hearings.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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