Under pressure to show quick results from the economic stimulus, the White House is taking credit for starting to build hundreds of rural water systems nationwide.
Facing criticism for her handling of federal stimulus money, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she would not start any new border construction projects while the department reviewed how projects were selected.
State transportation officials agreed Thursday to support a private company's bid to make passenger trains that would run on President Barack Obama's proposed high-speed rail network.
White House economists said Thursday that the Obama administration's recovery efforts have saved or created more than 1 million jobs, an estimate that underscored a cautiously optimistic forecast about the direction of the economy.
A California company that makes solar panels will receive a $535 million federal loan guarantee, allowing it to complete the first phase of a new manufacturing plant in Fremont.
Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed success beyond expectations for the $787 billion economic stimulus, but his glowing assessment overlooks many of the program's problems, including delays in releasing money, questionable spending priorities and project picks that are under investigation.
President Barack Obama ordered federal officials to disclose their contacts with lobbyists trying to influence how the government doles out money to jump-start the economy. Yet few such communications have been reported even though lobbyists say they are busier than ever with the multibillion-dollar stimulus.
"Cash for Clunkers" isn't the only economic stimulus program to attract a lot of takers.
Georgia's Republican senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, voted against the $787 billion economic stimulus package, blasting the bill as a bloated government giveaway.
The federal government sent about 3,900 economic stimulus payments of $250 each this spring to people who were in no position to use the money to help stimulate the economy: prison inmates.
The Obama administration said Friday that two Democratic senators falsely took credit for steering millions of dollars to projects in their home state, even as officials acknowledged that the Homeland Security secretary met with the lawmakers and discussed financing the projects.
Teach for America and programs like it could benefit from a $650 million competitive grant fund for school reforms pushed by President Barack Obama.
Eleven states have said no to charter schools, one of the education reforms President Barack Obama backs. They may soon be paying a penalty for that choice.
Some investors and market watchers say the stock market may have overestimated the prospects for an economic rebound — and share prices could be due for a big pullback.
Jackie Harpst expected a busy summer at her nonprofit housing agency, as work crews backed by Nebraska's share of $5 billion in federal stimulus money headed out to seal windows and spread insulation.
The Obama administration used economic stimulus money to pay for 50 airport projects that didn't meet the grant criteria and approved projects at four airports with a history of mismanaging federal grants, a government watchdog said Monday.
President Barack Obama talks about economic recovery for this economically ravaged region of northern Indiana with NBC Chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd.
AsPresident Obama returns to Elkhart CountyWednesday, msnbc.com looks at some of the promises he made on his last visit – and his progress in fulfilling them. By msnbc.com's John W. Schoen.
A top Republican congressman says the government needs a "kick in the pants" to get federal stimulus money focused on repairing dilapidated bridges.
Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads, an Associated Press analysis shows.
On a scale of zero to 100, it can't get worse than the big goose egg.
How much are politicians straining to convince people that the government is stimulating the economy? In Oregon, where lawmakers are spending $176 million to supplement the federal stimulus, Democrats are taking credit for a remarkable feat: creating 3,236 new jobs in the program's first three months.
A sampling of major international companies that are positioned to make new passenger trains in the U.S.
Foreign companies that dominate the international high-speed rail industry are trying to cash in on the Obama administration's plan to pump billions of dollars into U.S. rail systems to help stimulate the economy.
Under the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan, needy communities were supposed to be first in line for money to rebuild highways and jump start the economy.
The election of Barack Obama was a historic one for America, both as the symbol of the resurgence of youth involvement in politics as well as a repudiation of America's dark, racist past.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal government and states are girding themselves for the next foreclosure crisis in the country's housing downturn: payment option adjustable rate mortgages that are beginning to reset.
Now I know that I can't speak for all of the Democrats in America but personally I like pork and I particularly like mine barbecued.
Incoming data will reveal more in coming months, but the data available so far tell us that the government transfers and rebates have not stimulated consumption at all, and that the resilience of the private sector following the fall 2008 panic not the fiscal stimulus program des …
Barack Obama's initial approach to the office of the presidency has been as grandiose as Bush's was restrained. It's not hard to recall that he ran as a transformative candidate, promising sweeping, though somewhat fuzzy, "change" during the campaign.
WASHINGTON — The government handed out stimulus money far more slowly this summer than it had in the first weeks after the massive economic recovery plan started, even though President Obama and other members of his administration had vowed to hasten that aid.
The government handed out stimulus money far more slowly this summer than it had in the first weeks after the massive economic recovery plan started, even though President Obama and other members of his administration had vowed to hasten that aid.
The state has changed the name and cut the strings attached to more than $500,000 in funds to local governmental entities, Glen Scott, Muskogee County treasurer, said.
But sometimes, our predictions miss the mark. Case in point: in a November 2008 commentary, we predicted "Obama's presidency will likely be less radical than his primary campaign proposals and more like the moderated views he unveiled after winning his party's nomination ...
Atlanta The postcard mailed to thousands of Americans played on a similar theme: They got their chunk of the stimulus package. Here's a chance to get yours.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers said Thursday the $787 billion stimulus plan kept one million people working who would otherwise have lost their jobs. Republicans called the figure "smoke and mirrors."
The stimulus money for construction and jobs for Americans are only being used by construction companies still hiring cheap labor by using Mexicans and white Europeans,with no educatio, ,and no experience.
Jumbo shrimp. Buy and save. Jobless recovery. Americans are on full oxymoron alert these days, as we read and hear about this "jobless recovery." Recovery for whom?
Jarvis Tyner, the executive vice chair of the Communist Party USA, is singing the praises of President Obama.
In order for unemployment to fall, our national income must increase. So far we have no effective policies in place to do that.
The bad news is that the debt is rapidly rising, both in absolute terms and relative to GDP, thanks to the current recession, the stimulus effort to end that recession, and the bailout of the country's financial system.
The jobless-recovery theme re-emerged on Friday with the arrival of a disappointing employment report. The daunting number was the unemployment rate, which jumped from 9.4 percent in July to 9.7 percent in August. This is a big-versus-small-business issue.
The most important thing about what anyone says are not the words themselves but the credibility of the person who says them.
LONDON (Reuters) - G20 finance leaders on Saturday took aim at excessive bank pay and risk-taking at the root of the financial crisis and insisted trillions of dollars of emergency economic supports would be needed for some time.
Opponents of the stimulus felt confident the all the money was lost down a rat hole while even the most ardent proponents felt that not all the money would be lost. Now, payments are coming back in at a quick pace and with substantial interest.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — It was just five months ago that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. made the New Flyer bus factory here a symbol of the stimulus.
Australia will phase out stimulus spending in the coming months amid signs the developed world's best performing economy will be the first among its peers to lift interest rates.
Wouldn't we be better off giving small-/medium-businesses (who employ the majority of Americans) breaks and their own fiscal stimulus rather than spending a lot of money on a few large organizations?
If the recession really is over, someone forgot to send the memo to the people in the personnel department ... because no one is hiring.
There's at least one group of people who are happy Cash for Clunkers is over: demolition-derby drivers.