John Garamendi: “I keep hearing this discussion that the stimulus didn't work. I don't know what people are looking at, because, in my…”

“I keep hearing this discussion that the stimulus didn't work. I don't know what people are looking at, because, in my district in California and in the State of California, the stimulus has been of utmost importance in maintaining at least a base. California received some $63 billion from the stimulus. Where did the money go? Well, $9 billion went to the school systems in California so we didn't have to lay off teachers and janitors and bus drivers. Those people continue to be employed, and they continue to do an extremely important piece of work. That is investing in our children. Along the way, we also invested in those schools. In my district, some nearly $100 million went into repairing schools--painting, fixing, improving their energy efficiency. $197 million backfilled money that the State of California couldn't put up to build a tunnel through the Caldecott mountains. Six thousand jobs will be underway now and into the years ahead as people work on building the tunnel, and we are going to eliminate one of the great traffic jams in the Bay Area. It goes on and on and on. The University of California and the State university system, instead of laying people off, received stimulus money, so they were able to continue to provide classes. I don't know where all of this talk that the stimulus doesn't work comes from. It certainly doesn't come from the reality of what is taking place in California.”