Biden: Stimulus halted 'economic freefall'
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Economic stimulus spending "halted an economic freefall," U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says in a report on the first anniversary of the law's enactment.
Biden will deliver the report Wednesday at a daily briefing on the economy at the White House. In a statement Tuesday, the Obama administration said Biden's progress report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 concludes the legislation added between 2 percentage points and 3 percentage points to real gross domestic product growth in the second quarter of 2009; between 3 percentage points and 4 percentage points in the third quarter; and between 1.5 percentage points and 3 percentage points in the fourth quarter.
"As ARRA funds have begun to work their way through the economy, several key indicators show that they have clearly halted an economic freefall," Biden's report says.
"Payroll job losses are also lessening and, ever since a peak in March of 2009, unemployment insurance claims have been generally declining," the report found. "It is no accident that we have seen the labor market improve dramatically since the passage of ARRA -- abundant evidence and many different experts say it is creating millions of jobs."
The progress report said the jobs span multiple sectors of the economy throughout the United States.
Biden said the federal government has disbursed almost $300 billion of ARRA funds and is on course to disburse 70 percent of funds by Sept. 30.
Simpson, Bowles to head deficit panel?
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama plans to name a former U.S. senator and a former Clinton administration official to head a deficit panel, officials said Tuesday.
The president is expected to announce the appointment of former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowels to the commission Thursday, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing administration officials.
Simpson served in the Senate from 1979 to 1997, becoming Republican whip. Bowles, who currently serves as president of the University of North Carolina, was known as a centrist Democrat, the newspaper said.
In a telephone interview with the Times, Simpson would not say if he had been asked to lead the bipartisan commission. He was skeptical about Republican claims that simply cutting spending would balance the budget.
"I'll just say I'm very frustrated and I can't believe what's happening to our country," Simpson said. "There isn't a single sitting member of Congress, not one, that doesn't know exactly where we're headed."
The commission, which is to recommend a deficit-reduction plan, is to have 18 members, 10 of them Democrats. In addition to the co-chairs, the president would appoint another Republican and three Democrats, while three members of each house of Congress from each party would be chosen by the leadership.
WH mum on reported Taliban leader's arrest
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had next to nothing to say Tuesday about the reported capture of the Taliban's No. 2 leader during fighting in Pakistan.
"I'm not going to get into this topic and not going to discuss any details around this," Gibbs said of the reported capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
Baradar, the Taliban's military leader, was taken into custody several days ago in a secret operation and has been subject to interrogation since then, various media outlets reported.
U.S. officials said Baradar was the most significant member of the Taliban taken into custody since the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan. Baradar was described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington.
"(This) involves very sensitive intelligence matters, this involves the collection of intelligence," Gibbs said, "and it is best to do that and not to necessarily talk about it."
U.S. and Afghan forces since last week have been engaged in a major offensive operation in southern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.
Republicans line up for Bayh seat
INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- One day after Evan Bayh said he would not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate from Indiana, two Republicans had submitted paperwork for their candidacy.
Bayh Monday said he was fed up with the way things work -- or don't -- in Washington, just days before the filing deadline for nominating petitions for Indiana's May 4 primary elections.
Republican state Sen. Marlin Stutzman of Howe turned in his nominating petitions to the secretary of state Tuesday, the Indianapolis Star reported. Financial adviser Don Bates Jr. filed his last week.
At least three other Republicans also were expected to seek Bayh's job -- former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler and plumbing company owner Richard Behney of Fishers.
On the Democratic side, the only declared candidate, Tamyra d'Ippolito, failed to collect enough petition signatures, so the state central committee will select a nominee, the Star said.
