Obama to speak to police recruits about stimulus

[March 06, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama, who often says his $787 billion economic stimulus package will save or create millions of jobs, can point to at least 25 jobs saved in Ohio's capital.

Obama was to travel to Columbus on Friday to speak at the graduation ceremony for 25 police recruits who owe their jobs to the economic recovery bill he signed into law less than three weeks ago.

The recruits are part of a class of 27 who were laid off in January by Mayor Michael Coleman, a Democrat, before they could even start walking the beat. Coleman blamed city budget problems at the time.

But Coleman announced last week that the Justice Department had informed the city that it would get $1.25 million in stimulus money to pay the officers' salaries through the end of the year. Two of the recruits chose not to return.

When he signed the bill on Feb. 17, Obama cited saving the Ohio police recruit class as one use for stimulus money.

Obama has been highlighting programs to be funded by the legislation, along with the jobs he says are being saved or created by those dollars. He has practically staked his presidency on his promise that the stimulus package, which drew scant Republican support in Congress, will save or create 3.5 million jobs within the next two years.

At the Transportation Department this week, he talked about the $28 billion in stimulus funds being invested in road-building projects, and the 150,000 jobs he says that money will save or create.

Obama's chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the president believes trips like the one to Ohio are important because they help show the public what the government is doing to try to turn around the economy.

The Ohio trip also gives Obama a chance to deliver some good news on a day when even grimmer economic news is expected with Friday's release of unemployment figures for February. Economists are expecting the national unemployment rate to climb above January's 7.6 percent level, which was the highest since September 1992.

"The city is understanding that the money that they'll see from the legislation will allow them to save those jobs, put those cops back on the street, and I think that's a good news story in a day in which there will be some very tough economic figures," Gibbs said Thursday.

Columbus rehired the officers using money from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program. The stimulus bill set aside $2 billion for that program, which is being delivered to local departments by a predetermined formula.

But while stimulus money saved those jobs, it is only a temporary fix. The money will run out at year's end, and Coleman, the mayor, has not said how he'll pay the officers' salaries after that.

"If anyone thinks this solves our long-term budget challenges, they're going to be disappointed," Coleman's spokesman, Dan Williamson, said Thursday.

The trip will be Obama's first to Ohio as president. He won the state in the November election.

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[Associated Press; By DARLENE SUPERVILLE]

Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett and Matt Apuzzo in Washington and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

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