Romney assails Obama stimulus spending in Colorado

By: Sarah B. Boxer
Topics: Campaign 2012

Mitt Romney, speaks at a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 4, 2012.

(Credit: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Mitt Romney slammed President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package Saturday at a rally featuring a plant owner who said he received some of the money and it didn't create any jobs.

"This president came into office and said: 'OK, we're going to get this economy going by borrowing $787 billion in stimulus.' And he said if we borrowed that money he would hold unemployment below 8 percent. It has not been below 8 percent since," Romney told a crowd at Springs Fabrication. He said the January jobs report - showing 8.3 percent unemployment, the lowest since February 2009 - is "still above the emergency line of 8 percent, and by the way, he doesn't get credit for things getting better."

Romney said the credit belongs to people like Tom Neppl, the CEO of Springs Fabrication, "who built a place like this and employed people in this great state." Neppl told the crowd, estimated at over 1,000 by the Romney campaign, that "I did not support the stimulus, I did not seek out stimulus funds, and the stimulus did not create or save a single job here. One of our best customers placed an order as they have in the past, for a government project like those we have done in the past. The only significant impact I have seen from the stimulus is a massive increase in our national debt."

Estimates by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and several private forecasting firms suggest that the stimulus has saved or created 1.5 million to 3.6 million jobs since it was enacted in early 2009, and that it staved off deeper unemployment and recession. The jobless rate has been dropping for several months now, potentially shifting the economic debate to less favorable ground for the Republican presidential contenders.

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Sarah B. Boxer
Sarah B. Boxer covers politics for CBS News.
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by noloyalisti February 6, 2012 4:04 PM EST: Robmee is the slimiest, greasiest, lying, flip-flopping person to ever run for President. Frankly, he is an embarrassment to the human race.; Reply to this comment

by RandallRichard February 6, 2012 12:14 PM EST

So the guy took the money but he didn't create any jobs with it. All Right, then what did he do with it? Put it in the Caymen Islands along with Mitt's money? Gamble it away in Vegas? Maybe he should be investigated for fraud, or maybe he is just a big fat liar like Mitt.

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by Frustrated_American92 February 7, 2012 12:17 AM EST: The problem with this country today is individuals such as yourself take everything they read at face value and don't do a little bit of research to see if there is another side to the story. So I did your homework for you. Merrick took a direct bailout from the stimulus, they had a job that they were unable to do, they put the job up for bid and Springs Fabrication bid on the project. They won the bid. If you took 2 seconds to look at their website like I did you would realize they build massive equipment. Having experience in the construction field, my guess would be most of the money was dedicated to materials and labor. Construction and manufacturing companies bid on tons of projects such as this to keep their workforce and business going. It is called business, you know a job, like what helps people in this country pay the bills? Did it ever occur to you that although it may not have created jobs it may have saved some people from getting laid off? Oh and if this company had hired individuals to work on this project, what do you think would happen should they not have enough work after that to keep them? Hmm I wonder would those people get laid off? You obviously do not understand how fast the money goes when you are paying for materials and labor.


by Kestrel88 February 5, 2012 1:49 PM EST: News to Mitt. There's already a big government "stimulus" program in Colorado Springs -- it's called Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics Northrup Gumman and the U.S Air Force.

Now, what was he saying about government not creating jobs??; Reply to this comment


by Ben37221 February 5, 2012 4:22 AM EST: Romney was part of the corperation who outsourced American jobs overseas. Now we find out that he have been cheating on his taxes with all the offshore accounts. Romney is a vulture capitalist who think the poor are just fine. Romney does not care about the plight of the middle class-he just want to be president at all cost and will do any thing and say anything to get elected. Romney does not understand the diffrence between corperation and people.
While average Americans are paying higher tax rate, Romney lobbied for tax loop holes for corperations. Romney is bad for America.; Reply to this comment


by Shibbol February 4, 2012 10:40 PM EST: Mitt, I'm glad you thought that the stimulus created zero jobs. Then again you think a lot of other things that only exist in your parallel universe. Please look at the actual figures of the reversal of the job-loss picture once Obama policies clicked in, and the 23 (count 'em, Mr. CEO Dude) straight months of employment gains since 2010. You can apologize for all your junk after the election because we know you have to stretch the truth at this time.; Reply to this comment


by rayward73446 February 4, 2012 10:33 PM EST: Romney is in good company with the repubs. They ignore the facts and spin what they want to say into the "truth". Everytime I hear these empty suits spinning their way through a campaign I realize that many Americans seem to believe them, regardless of what the truth really is. Someone is voting for them but I can't imagine who is that uninformed. The last paragraph in the story tells all, and makes Romney a liar again.; Reply to this comment


by rayward73446 February 4, 2012 10:26 PM EST: sbbm-2009 must be a Fox new fan, only someone with an empty head can call putting Americans back to work, protecting the poor, aged and disabled worthless causes. Those who follow the repubs blindly are usually those who cry me, me, me, hate that a black man is president, and think wrongfully that they will one day be in the 1%. They must not have looked at any real news stories for a very long time or they would know that that exclusive club is reserved for those already there. Sorry but your statement does not have any credibility at all.; Reply to this comment


by ladyang February 4, 2012 9:33 PM EST: More of the same from an empy suit.; Reply to this comment


by bsvitamins1 February 4, 2012 9:29 PM EST: People seem to forget that it took 8 or more years of bad policies to put us where we are at . You can't expect it to be fixed in just four years in office. I see things turning around now so why change in mid stream lets keep thing going instead of letting the Republicans back in office lets keep them out of both house and senate and give the us a chance to fix the two BUSH's mess.; Reply to this comment