Statement by the Vice President on New Recovery Act Recipient Reports

Later today, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board will post on Recovery.gov quarterly reports required from some recipients of Recovery Act funding.  The recipient reports provide more detailed information about a portion of Recovery Act activity during the second quarter of 2010.  The Vice President issued the following statement:

“Preliminary totals provided to my office provide encouraging news about the Recovery Act recipient reports.  These reports will show over 750,000 jobs were directly funded by the Recovery Act in the most recent quarter – the highest total so far.   This record number reflects the early impact of our surge in projects across the country as part of “Recovery Summer.”

“Given that these 750,000 jobs were funded by just 17 percent of funds paid out so far – or about $80 billion, today’s reports are another indication that the Recovery Act is on-track to create or save 3.5 million jobs overall by the end of this year.   They reinforce a similar finding reported this week by independent economists Mark Zandi and Alan Blinder.

“Because these reports provide real-time data directly from the recipients themselves, they are not perfect or complete.  But, in keeping with our unprecedented commitment to transparency and accountability, the reports provide the American people with a never-before-seen look at how their taxpayer dollars are being put to work creating jobs in their community.”