Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday claimed the President's stimulus plan combined with 2008's Troubled Assets Relief Program resulted in ten million jobs being saved.
Such was actually said on CBS's "Face the Nation" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BOB SCHIEFFER, HOST: What would you say to the President about why Democrats did so poorly in this election and how, how do you dig yourself out of this hole?
SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.): Well, here's what I'd say. I'd say, look, the Congress the last two years have been historic. We've passed major pieces of legislation. Four pieces that will go down in history as one of the most significant Congresses we've had. But two of them, the TARP, which was passed by the previous Congress but it gets attributed to us, and the stimulus prevented bad things from happening. There are about ten million people probably who are working now who would not have been had we not passed those laws but they don't know who they are.
The unemployment rate before TARP passed was 6.2 percent with roughly 9.6 million people out of work. When the stimulus bill went through, unemployment was at 7.7 percent with 11.9 million out of a job.
Today, those numbers are 9.6 percent and 14.8 million respectively, yet the man who likely was going to succeed Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as Majority Leader if Sharron Angle had won on Election Day has the nerve to claim stimulus and TARP saved ten million jobs.
That's right, Senator: if stimulus and TARP hadn't been enacted, there would currently be about 25 million people out of work and the unemployment rate would be 16.1 percent.
It's nice being a Democrat and to be able to make unsupportable claims on television without the risk of being called on the carpet.
