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Even though it's not quite the Fourth of July, political fireworks are already going off over new claims by Tri-State Congressman John Boehner that he can't find any of the new jobs from the huge government stimulus program.
The controversy started when republicans ran an Internet video using a bloodhound named "Ellie Mae" to illustrate the search for jobs created by stimulus money. Click
here to watch the video on YouTube.
"She hasn't found any stimulus jobs yet and neither have the American people," Boehner says in the video. "Hang in there honey,” Boehner tells Ellie Mae, “we’ll find ’em.”
Cincinnati democrats say Boehner would find the jobs if he would look.
Is the federal stimulus program helping to pay salaries of construction workers at the Banks Project or isn't it? That's part of the growing debate between republicans and democrats.
Republicans say the can't find the any stimulus jobs while democrats say there are plenty out there.
Boehner re-emphasized the trouble finding those jobs during a speech Friday morning at the West Chester Rotary Club.
Several dozen members arrived early for the 8 a.m. Boehner criticized the stimulus program passed by the Democratic Congress and signed by President Barack Obama.
Boehner also told the crowd that a rejected Republican plan would have created twice as many jobs at half the cost, through tax cuts for businesses and individuals.
After the speech, Boehner told 9News, "When the Obama administration spent trillions of dollars, and creates a huge new bureaucracy, you have to ask them, 'Where are the jobs?'"
Meanwhile, 1st Ohio District Congressman, Democrat Steve Driehaus says Boehner would find the stimulus jobs, if he looked for them. Driehaus even offered to show stimulus jobs to Boehner, "I'll take him down to the Banks. I'll take him to several projects around I-75. There's even a new water treatment facility going in for Butler County, his district, with stimulus money. It has been and will continue to create new jobs in Hamilton County and throughout the Tri-State. That's what the stimulus is all about."
Driehaus says he found a graphic in this week's Cincinnati Business Courier showing that over $330 million in stimulus money has already been allocated to Tri-State projects, with more on the way.
The debate over the stimulus and jobs is expected to continue through the holiday weekend.
In fact, Boehner will be in Washington on Sunday to debate the point on a National talk show.
