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Briefing Room

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 18, 2010

Background on the President's Event Today in Columbus, Ohio

ARRIVE PORT COLUMBUS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
11:40 AM EDT

GREETED BY

Gov. Ted Strickland
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher
Mayor Michael Coleman

**Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, Rep. Charlie Wilson, Rep. Steve Driehaus and Sen. Sherrod Brown will fly on Air Force on with President Obama to Ohio.**

REMARKS AT 10,000TH RECOVERY ACT HIGHWAY PROJECT
COLUMBUS, OH
12:15 PM EDT

Today, the President will travel to Columbus, Ohio to mark the first of many significant Recovery Act milestones coming this summer – the 10,000th Recovery Act road project to get underway.  The road improvement project in downtown Columbus is expected to create over 300 construction jobs and will contribute to the broader economic development effort underway in the area around Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  He will be joined on-stage by Secretary LaHood and 8 construction workers.  The audience will be made up of 35 elected officials and workers.  Prior to his remarks the President and Secretary LaHood will meet with the 8 construction workers and receive a brief tour of the Recovery Act project.

Additional information on Administration-wide Recovery Summer events can be found HERE. 

Recovery Summer Fact Sheet is available HERE.

RECOVERY ACT FUNDING IN COLUMBUS AND FRANKLIN COUNTY

  • Columbus and the surrounding area has received approximately $729 million in Recovery Act funding. Highlights included below:
  • The Small Business Administration guaranteed nearly $44-53 million to businesses in Columbus.  Examples of Columbus recipients of SBA guaranteed loans include:
    • Eating establishments (T&L Cuisine, LLC received $50,000 and Victorian’s Midnight Café received $81,000)
    • Medical facilities (Gateway Wellness Center received $150,000)
    • Service establishments (Joseph Tree Services, LLC received $168,000 and Klean A Kar, Inc. received $672,000)
  • Franklin County received over $91 million in funding from the Department of Transportation for highways, transit, and aviation projects - including more than $38 million for Columbus.
  • Franklin County received Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants of nearly $11 million.
  • The City of Columbus received nearly $13 million from the Department of Justice for the COPS Hiring Recovery Program, awarding 50 officers
  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development provided over $9 million for the Public Housing Capital Fund in Franklin County.
    • Additionally, approximately $4.5 million dollars in grants were provided for the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program in Franklin County.
  • Over $1.2 million was provided to Franklin County by the Department of Education in the form of Federal Work Study grants.  These payments are awarded to college students to provide part-time employment to help students meet educational expenses.

RECOVERY ACT FUNDING IN OHIO

Total Jobs & Spending

  • JOBS CREATED AND SAVED – CEA estimates that 108,000 jobs were created or saved by the Recovery Act in Ohio through March, 2010.
  • TOTAL SPEND – More than $12.6 billion in Recovery funds has been made available to Ohio – and more than $7.5 billion has already been spent.

Investing in Infrastructure
         

  • CONSTRUCTION – 462 transportation projects have been obligated in Ohio, totaling over $1.1 billion.
  • SMALL BUSINESS – 2,663 Recovery Act-backed small business loans have been given to Ohio small businesses, supporting more than $803 million in lending.

Relief to Individuals

TAX RELIEF – Because of the Making Work Pay tax credit, 4.5 million Ohio working families will collectively receive $2.2 billion in tax relief.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS – More than 840,000 Ohio residents have expanded unemployment benefits because of the Recovery Act.

STIMULUS PAYMENTS – More than 2.1 million Ohio seniors, veterans and other high-need residents have received one-time economic relief payments of $250, totaling more than $532 million.

Helping States

  • TEACHERS – Close to 12,000 education positions were reported as funded by the Recovery Act in Q1 2010 in Ohio – which has received close to $1.8 billion in State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF).
  • MEDICAID – The Recovery Act has already made over $2.3 billion available to help prevent additional Medicaid cuts in Ohio.  The state of Ohio has spent more than $2 billion of the available funds.
  • ‘COPS’ PROGRAM:  Law enforcement agencies in Ohio received over $79 million in funding from the Recovery Act to support 336 police officers’ salaries and benefits for three years.