2-06-09, 10:05 am

As record numbers of American workers filed for unemployment benefits in the final days of January and new government data released Feb. 6 revealed that 598,000 more jobs were lost last month, Senators have stalled the president's economic recovery package.

According to the Department of Labor, the unemployment ballooned to 7.6 percent in January. In addition, the department revised its December employment figure upward by more than 55,000 lost jobs. The data revealed the worst jobs situation in the country in 34 years.

In response, President Obama intensified pressure on Senators who have delayed passage of his economic recovery package. At a political event on the evening of Feb. 5th. 'If we do not move swiftly to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law,' he warned, 'an economy that is in crisis will be faced with catastrophe. Millions more Americans will lose their jobs. Home will be lost. Families will go without health care. Our crippling dependence on foreign oil will continue. That is the price of inaction.'

Earlier that day, the Obama administration countered Republican criticisms of its economic recovery package, the Obama administration asserted that its $800 billion plan meets high standards of transparency, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

In a teleconference with reporters, Thursday Feb. 5, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stated, 'The American Recovery and Re-Investmant plan will immediately jump start job creation and foster long-term economic growth.'

The administration predicts the recovery package will create or save up to 4 million jobs over the next two years. 'Every economist and analyst the president has spoken to has confirmed that the recovery plan will meet this goal,' LaHood noted.

'It's no secret that the economy is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, and the president has called for unprecedented action,' the Republican Transportation Secretary added.

The lion's share of the spending portion of the package is set to go to public infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, and rail – projects that are ready to go, meet environmental standards, and will create jobs this spring, LaHood stated.

The Transportation Department's plan to work with states and to keep all federal projects transparent is in keeping with the administration's pledge to make the recovery package available for public scrutiny, LaHood stated. 'We're going to do that without earmarks,' he added. 'The president has made that clear.'

A new White House Web site, , will keep an open record of all projects funded as part of the economic stimulus package.

LaHood's meeting with the press appeared to be part of a larger push by the Obama administration to help pressure the US Senate to pass the recovery package.

Earlier in the week, the White House released state-by-state estimates of the numbers of jobs that could be created or saved, the tax savings workers will see, and the numbers of schools that would be renovated if the package is passed.

Those estimate show that a state like Michigan, with the highest unemployment rate in the country and whose Republican House members unanimously voted against the recovery package, could see about 115,000 jobs created or saved in the two years.

At least 3 million Virginia workers would benefit from tax relief, while about 99,000 jobs would be saved or created there. Florida could see over 218,000 jobs created or saved and 485 schools modernize and renovated. More than 151,00 jobs in Pennsylvania, 141,000 jobs in Ohio, and 16,000 in Maine could be saved or created with an injection of new federal dollars under the president's stimulus plan.

Across the country, tens of millions of workers would see direct tax savings and hundreds of thousands of families would be eligible for tax credits to help cover the costs of their children's college education.

In his speech Thursday, Feb. 5th, Obama rejected the economic philosophy that seemed to drive Republican opposition to the recovery plan. 'We’re not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that in eight short years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,' he stated. 'We can’t embrace the losing formula that offers more tax cuts as the only answer to every problem we face, while ignoring critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, the soaring cost of health care, failing schools and crumbling bridges, roads and levees. I don’t care whether you’re driving a hybrid or an SUV – if you’re headed for a cliff, you have to change direction.'

Update: A compromise package is expected to be voted on Monday.