This Feb. 17, 2009, file photo shows President Barack Obama picking up the first pen to sign the economic stimulus bill during a ceremony in the Museum of Nature and Science in Denver.RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – The costly $787 billion spending bill that President Barack Obama signed into law soon after taking office boosted the economy and helped avoid another Great Depression, the White House said in a status report on Monday’s fifth anniversary of the law’s enactment.
Republican leaders in Congress took note of the anniversary, too, but argued that the bill spent too much for too little in return.
White House economic adviser Jason Furman said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made other targeted investments that will pay dividends for years to come.
By itself, the stimulus bill saved or created an average of 1.6 million jobs a year for four years through the end of 2012, Furman said in a White House blog post.
Half of the total fiscal support for the economy, or about $689 billion, from the recovery act and subsequent measures was in the form of tax cuts directed mostly at families. The remainder was spent on such things as rebuilding roads and bridges, preventing teacher layoffs and providing temporary help for people who lost their jobs or needed other assistance because of the poor economy.