Thursday, November 19, 2009

Marsha Blackburn: My Cool Congressman!

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha - I love your sense of humor:

Contact: Claude Chafin 202-225-1112

Blackburn Hails Stimulus Achievements
Spending Bill Grants Tennessee More Seats In Congress Than Texas

Washington, Nov 17 -
Congressman Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) today hailed the Obama Administration’s efforts to create jobs and expand the number of Congressional districts in Tennessee. While the stimulus has only “created or saved” 9,548 jobs in Tennessee, Blackburn was gratified to see that it also increased the size of the delegation by 38 seats. Between 1982 and today, Tennessee only had nine Congressional districts.

According to Recovery.gov, Tennessee’s 29th Congressional District gained 20 jobs and more than nine million dollars in stimulus funding. Blackburn’s 7th District only beat the 29th District by 109 jobs. In all, the Stimulus created 28 jobs in Congressional districts that did not exist previously. If the trend continues, Tennessee could have a whopping 49 electoral votes for the 2012 election.

“I have been a vocal advocate for transparency in the stimulus bill, but this is more than I could have expected,” Blackburn said. “Not only can we track how many jobs were in created in each of Tennessee’s congressional districts, but in the process we have found dozens of districts we didn’t even know we had. Once we get all these seats filled, Tennessee will have a larger delegation and more clout than Texas. At nearly $400,000.00 per job, we also know that Tennesseans are the most valuable workers in the nation.”

In total, the stimulus has awarded over three billion dollars in Tennessee and created fewer than ten thousand jobs, regardless of the Congressional district. Unfortunately, more than three hundred thousand Tennesseans remain unemployed.

“Jokes aside, today’s additions to Recovery.gov illustrate what a confused failure the stimulus has been. Clearly, the Administration is incapable of explaining where these funds are being spent or why they aren’t creating jobs. As the debt mounts up, Tennesseans are still looking for work. Tennesseans deserve better and Washington can do better. It is time to incentivize investment and business creation and stop throwing more good money after bad.”

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