November 18, 2009
Posted: November 18th, 2009 12:00 PM ET

From
Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.
Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

(CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

The districts don't exist, but the projects do, Biden said Tuesday night.

And the administration isn't to blame - the fault lies with the nation's educational system.

In an appearance on The Daily Show, Biden said the errors - first reported by ABC News - do not indicate unaccounted-for spending but are rather the result of 70 people who are the product of "bad civics classes."

"Every single solitary penny that got sent out there to a state, a construction company, a nonprofit had to be accounted for," Biden told host Jon Stewart. "And it all got put on Recovery.gov. What happened was, out of 130,000 people reporting in what they did with the money…70 did not know how to count."

"There was bad civics classes for those 70 people," Biden continued. "They had to fill out a form, what district are you in, and there was no such district."

Biden said checkers are now going through the reports to determine the actual districts where the money was spent.

Filed under: Joe Biden


La   November 18th, 2009 3:13 pm ET

And did Mr. Biden attend those same Civics classes? There is for sure something rotten in Denmark. /mindboggled.

Obama Victim   November 18th, 2009 3:10 pm ET

is it too late to corrrect the error the country made in the last election??

vtbob   November 18th, 2009 3:09 pm ET

This administration's attempt at transparency is ludicrous. The propensity for this administration to "make mistakes" defies the laws of probability. The problem is they have decided to fill positions with unqualified in experienced people at all levels. You have the blind leading the blind. This administration is so desperate to justify some positive effect the "Stimulus Package" is having on the economy that they have to make things up.
the only thing missing from this excuse is at the beginning Biden forgot to say "once upon a time" and he failed to close his presentation with "They all lived happily everafter." Both he and the President are living in fantasy land. I ahve only one thing to say to them both, "It's time to put on the CLOWN NOSES!"

They must think we are all na

No one is validating or checking any of the data elm is they have surrounded themselves with inexperienced people because of the "political favors' owed .

JIm Hilton Head SC   November 18th, 2009 3:08 pm ET

Joe

Give it a rest don't you check the facts before posting them ? It's funny how Obama and Biden always place the blame elsewhere. Where are all those fictious jobs you say you have created ?

This is a disgrace to the people.

Barack reads his lies, Unions Thrive and the Economy dies.   November 18th, 2009 3:07 pm ET

Can't wait to read it.

What an improvement this country would be if run by Sarah instead of Barack. If she was running the show, at least we would have getting America working again the HIGHEST priority.

We would actually have some money left as we will learn to spend less and borrow less, and tax less and encourage business more.

We wouldn't be running towards the road of Socialist hell, and morale would be a hell of a lot higher in the military (the backbone of our country), than it is now with Obama.

shmeckel   November 18th, 2009 3:02 pm ET

Mr. Biden I think the problem is the fact that the administration approved monies for districts that did not exist. How can you go on TV and claim that all the money is accounted for when it was approved for nonexistent districts. I think it is safe to say the applications were not reviewed by qualified people, but you want us to believe you spent the money wisely.

You can only imagine how much fraud came out of this stimulus debacle. I don’t care if the applicants messed up the applications they were not elected to run the country and look out for our best interests. They were looking for free money and you gave it to them without asking any questions or having any consideration for our hard earned money. You gave away the money you are responsible for the mistakes not the people asking for it. You have the nerve to go on TV and blame this on anyone but the people giving away the money. You owe us an apology not some lame excuse you crooked scumbag politician.

Val in MA   November 18th, 2009 3:00 pm ET

Sure, blame the American people Joe, how very appropriate. This administration DOES NOT take any responsibility for anything. Shame, shame, shame!

Dan   November 18th, 2009 2:59 pm ET

Government can't get simple facts right, can't run medicare and they want to run all our health! We cannot depend on government employees doing a "Good enough for Government work" as the major runner of our lives.

Frank the Tank   November 18th, 2009 2:56 pm ET

Sounds like someone's pockets got lined pretty well. Either way that money is squandered

Lotta Muni   November 18th, 2009 2:51 pm ET

Recovery.gov is a joke. They even refer repeatedly to the non-government run recovery.org for their facts. Some transparency, huh?

You get what you pay for   November 18th, 2009 2:48 pm ET

Where are all of the Biden (and Obama Administration) defenders now? And people made fun of Dan Quayle? This guy is the biggest joke ever!

GI Joe   November 18th, 2009 2:46 pm ET

Unless I'm mistaken, the STATES have responsibility for reporting their resutls.

Shame on REPUBLICAN ARIZONA.

PREDICTA   November 18th, 2009 2:45 pm ET

So when they correct the errors will they now admit that the money went for political payoffs and patronage? I think not.

dan   November 18th, 2009 2:42 pm ET

I agree with the VP.

bob in LA   November 18th, 2009 2:41 pm ET

No comment on his stariaght talk? Joe said it like it is- bad civics knowledge. I
I would venture to say that the majority of poepl don't know what congressional district they live in. much less thier representitive's name.
They will scream, yell and complain, but can't take the time to learn who was selected to speak for them. You get what you didn't vote for!

Sean   November 18th, 2009 2:37 pm ET

It would be the height of foolishness to NOT expect some errors in the bookkeeping of such a massive expenditure. As long as the money is accounted for and the errors can be – and are – rectified, then all's well.

jeff jackson, alabama   November 18th, 2009 2:36 pm ET

There's no doubt the administration is going
to have to reach out to some Republicans to
fix this problem. The Democrats in Washington
have always had a problem with math.
Once again the conservatives are going to have
to save the liberals from THEMSELVES !!!!!!
Remember Freddie Mack and Fannie May ?
{The real reason for our financial crisis}

Robert the Man   November 18th, 2009 2:33 pm ET

Just like everything else with this administration... EPIC FAIL

Sniffit   November 18th, 2009 2:33 pm ET

Recovery.org – Change that just isn't true!! Where was CNN's "factchecker" on this one?? The media is so concerned over the fact checking content of Palin's new book, but it misses the blatent falsehoods and misrepresentations on one of the White House's own websites designed to bring about more transparency in government, I'm just shocked!

seebofubar   November 18th, 2009 2:28 pm ET

Nice picture Biden...and now for a man with a tape recorder up his nose.....

burniee   November 18th, 2009 2:26 pm ET

Down play it Joe. You and your cronies are not going to get away with "losing" billions of dollars. Dollars that I’m sure will show up in the pockets of the administrations contributors. Or your lying about phony jobs to make you appear competent. Way to try to hide the "pay back for votes". This should be telling since ABC broke the story. Guess the liberal love affair might be coming to an end. Thank God. Not sure how much American can survive this administration.

Tina   November 18th, 2009 2:25 pm ET

STOP LYING to American public –

Ken, AZ   November 18th, 2009 2:25 pm ET

Joe, the Obama administration cannot afford this kind of crap. We Democrats voted overwhemingly to take this country out of the hands of incompetents and we get this? I'm beginning to believe what is said about Democrats always find a way to blow it. But, with no other choices, I'm still a loyal Democrat.

Bill   November 18th, 2009 2:19 pm ET

A man who has no idea what he is doing. Does he at least have the number for recovery.com?

Brandon   November 18th, 2009 2:18 pm ET

Please,
Do they ever take responsibility for making a mistake. Can they ever be honest and just say, " Wow we really messed this up". The answer is No. They cannot do that because they believe that the citizens of the United States are ignorant and do not care. They think we are just lazy and as long as they give us a sucker we will be good little children.

Good Bye to the USA as we know it.

Dan in Louisville   November 18th, 2009 2:13 pm ET

We just don't want made-up numbers designed to make you look good – Joe.

Pete   November 18th, 2009 2:04 pm ET

Good job not taking accountability for your website. What a boob!

beanne   November 18th, 2009 2:02 pm ET

How about fixing the errors of 49 billion dollars in Medicare and Medicaid freud....how about fixing the error of Holder deciding to bring the 911 terroritst to the US to be given U.S. citizens' rights and now on top of everything else, our soldiers have to worry about reading terrorists captured their miranda rights. How about fixing the PC in the military that got 13 unarmed people at Frt Hood murdered by a Jihadist. How about fixing all that before you fix your stupid internet site......what a bunch of morons we have running this country My 7 y/o granddaughter has more intelligence then all of them combined.

Jenn, Philadelphia   November 18th, 2009 1:56 pm ET

What about the government employees who had to verify the forms? What civics classes did they take? Nice way to pass the buck, Joe. I can't wait until you guys have to take care of the medical forms my doctor sends in for treatment.

Melissa   November 18th, 2009 1:55 pm ET

I hope the gvt reports and fixes the errors. They should have caught this before it was posted on recovery.gvt.

rachel whitaker   November 18th, 2009 1:50 pm ET

I think Joe Biden is just covering up the governmental waste that has taken place every since that massively expensive "stimulus" bill was passed into law. The government is so huge and so powerful that it has absolutely no accountability, so it robs the American people. This certainly is not "Change" but more of the same. The government will continue to bankrupt the American people and continue to legislate our freedoms away until there is nothing left. I would look forward to the next elections so that I could vote out all the congressmen but there is no one running that is an honest or good person, so no matter who I vote for the result will likely be the same. Big Government with No Accountability!

All the news that is fit to omit   November 18th, 2009 1:48 pm ET

We were told by these lying frauds that this transparent SITE would be looked over with a fine tooth comb and that Biden would be in CHARGE and as Obambi stated, "NOBODY messes with Joe".

Now they are blaming others as USUAL.

This wasn't just mistyping, these WERE BLATANT LIES by this administration where they bought a THOUSAND DOLLAR MOWER and that somehow SAVED or created 50 JOBS.

Made up jobs and made up areas, were they like the 57 states Barry?

That is one of THOUSANDS of LIES, DISTORTIONS and overall lack of structure by this administration.

Hurry up Obamabots, you ned to explain this away before Oprah comes on or before the mailman comes with your check.

One and DONE.

joe smith   November 18th, 2009 1:41 pm ET

wonder if Mr. Biden could enlist blitzer, mcgafferty,klein, and on the other side,beck,o'reilly,and sarah to locate the Freddie Mac report; and then go back on jon's tv show, and give an accounting to the American people who deserve to know..since he must be good at accounting..

SLM   November 18th, 2009 1:41 pm ET

I'll bet they are surprised that anyone actually followed up on the jobs they bragged about creating..........I am sure they never thought ABC would rat them out. Add ABC to the enemies list with FOX. CNN, care to do a complete fact check on the jobs created and join ABC and FOX?

D. D.   November 18th, 2009 1:40 pm ET

Our VP was to overseer this area. He needs to recycle some liars.
This can not be allowed anytime. He needs to demand the top directors and the program directors should be dismissed ASAP. Their insensitity to truth speaks volumes.

keith in ky   November 18th, 2009 1:39 pm ET

Don't you jst love the liberials, one breath they tell you how good public education is then turn around and blame it for their stimulis mess. I wouldn't believe anything again that comes out of this administration, every time they open their mouths it's just a bunch of blah,blah, blah. When is the media going to start investigating all this fraud going on, it's time for the press to start doing it's job. Maybe if it did they wouldn't be going out of buisness!!!

Four and The Door   November 18th, 2009 1:36 pm ET

...and then the Federal Government does no verification before it took credit for the jobs and posted it on the web site???

No wonder there is so much fraud in programs like Medicare. It's easy when nobody checks what's going on.

It's not a good sign for an organization like the Federal Government when your Quality Assurance mechanism is the broadcast news investigative journalists.

southerncousin   November 18th, 2009 1:36 pm ET

Then they really shouldn't talk about things they don't know about. In other words, they should not lie. Is that not right, Joe. Don't say things like I will not raise taxes on the American middle class during a campaign and then the first bill you sign is SCHIP, which taxes smokers to pay for the health care cost of illegal immigrant children. Don't say in speeches that health care reform won't add one dime to the deficit when it will raise it at least $500 billion. Right Joe. Don't say you won't hire lobbyists in your administration and then go out and hire 42 of them. Right Joe??????????

Gary   November 18th, 2009 1:34 pm ET

I heard that you saved 8000 jobs in the fifth district in the state of Mexico....er... I guess Mexico isn't technically a state of the USA and technically no jobs were saved. But if Obama can get a Nobel Peace Prize without bringing Peace, we surely can credit him with saving jobs even if no jobs were saved.

Obamalot   November 18th, 2009 1:32 pm ET

Errors? He means they will just re-shuffle the lies. How stupid do they think we really are?

Tom L   November 18th, 2009 1:32 pm ET

Is there ever a time when this administration doesn't point fingers? Do they ever take responsibility for anything?

Mark   November 18th, 2009 1:31 pm ET

So first you are blatantly lying about the "mistakes" of sending money to non-existing congressional districts (read: my friends' pockets) and then you blame the education system. Wow. Good ol Joe shootin' off at the mouth again. He should take some advice from BHO and get on the teleprompter.

RLA   November 18th, 2009 1:30 pm ET

Nice minimalizing try Joe but it only holds water in your mind. One ABC investigative report just showed funding of $870 that created 9 new jobs which produced less than a dozen pairs of boots. That implies a fair amount of intentional information gathering and entry, not just a wrong couple of digits. Who would work for that kind of money ($870 divided by 9). What kind of minimum wage job is that? And that output...under a dozen boots by 9 people? And you think that's a good thing?

So much for transparency and truthfulness. This is just an example of how government misinterprets, misreports and misuses.

No wonder Americans are unhappy with you all in office.

Better luck next time Joe. We're not that gullible yet.
An American

SocialismBad   November 18th, 2009 1:28 pm ET

And what about all the reports of jobs being created but weren't? Number of hours worked (ie. 450) listed instead of jobs created (ZERO). Or $77,000 creating some ridiculous number of jobs? It's clear there are buffoons running a trillion dollar handout program and buffoons accepting and wasting the money.

Any money that hasn't been spent should immediately be frozen.

barbara   November 18th, 2009 1:27 pm ET

i am sure that these chckers know how to count. the problem is that they fudged the numbers because the government told them to! they did it so that they can show america that the money is working when, in fact, it isnt. america is not stupid they can see the writing on the walls and they know that this is just another attempt to show obama in a good light,...like he knows what hes doing. fact is he doesnt.

Joe   November 18th, 2009 1:27 pm ET

The current administration is lying to American people. Where are the jobs created or saved from ~$800 billions? If you just pay every unemployed working class member of $30,000 to $40,000 with this $800 billions, we will not have many unemployed in this country.

Rob   November 18th, 2009 1:26 pm ET

This coming from the guy who puts his own foot in his mouth on a daily basis? Suuuurrrre. Hey, actually that could be a new full time job: Fixing the errors made by this administration. That would employ several people, with overtime even. We alrady know it's gonna be a big job for the Republican that takes office when Obumbles disgracefully leaves in 2013.

Objective Thinking   November 18th, 2009 1:24 pm ET

So 130,000 people were trusted to self-report what they did with money. There's an even bigger problem than the 70 who did it wrong.

Carlos   November 18th, 2009 1:24 pm ET

"Every single solitary penny" now that is good for a laugh, now go back to wrecking cars Joe, they finally found something your good at.

Mike in MN   November 18th, 2009 1:23 pm ET

Everything about the stimulus is a joke.
It isn't stimulating or creating jobs any where near the level Obama and Biden said it would.
Unemployment just keeps going up and up and up, proving the Obama/Biden wild claims that is created or saved over a million jobs is a lie. They are just making the numbers up.
And their proof was supposed to be the reporting of the jobs on recovery.gov. But as it turns out thousands of the jobs reported are just made up and the Obama administration did not bother to verify the information.
Zero credibility from these clowns. More jokes and lies to follow.

George W Bush = Worst President Ever   November 18th, 2009 1:20 pm ET

Wing nuts who want the truth always go to Fox, the one organization that does not do fact checking.

Jerry   November 18th, 2009 1:19 pm ET

Bad news Joe , you are the error.

SLM   November 18th, 2009 1:18 pm ET

Of course the administration is not to blame.......nothing is their fault. We don't want to hear any more lies and excuses out of your mouth. Don't even try to consider a second stimulus..............you don't know what you are doing.

Fitz in Texas   November 18th, 2009 1:18 pm ET

"errors on Recovery.gov"......TRANSLATED MEANS.......the lies on Recovery.gov, that we got caught on, will be fixed.

George W Bush = Worst President Ever   November 18th, 2009 1:17 pm ET

But Joe, if you are a wingnut, 70 out of 130,000 represents a majority.

Enough   November 18th, 2009 1:13 pm ET

Nothing but excuses from this administration. Face it, they don't know what they are doing. They can't understand why spending billions of dollars isn't creating jobs.................Geez, get these losers out before they spend another trillion for another failed Obama experiment. Government cannot create jobs........private sector needs to create jobs, but Obamas policies are preventing any job growth.

Is the tax cut for 95% of Americans another "error"....you know, the one where they discovered millions will actually owe money and have to pay it back.............One blunder after another from this 3 ring circus. Biden is head clown.

Richp   November 18th, 2009 1:13 pm ET

Is that the same as having an open government instead of hiding behind closed doors and passing bad legislation after midnite, gee I can't wait.

Henry Miller, Libertarian   November 18th, 2009 1:12 pm ET

In other words, only after the lies were exposed were they asserted to be "mistakes."

CNN, this might be a good story to go after: Where did the money really go?

LacrosseDad   November 18th, 2009 1:10 pm ET

everything will be fixed when you and the other clown are voted out of office.

Amazing   November 18th, 2009 1:08 pm ET

What a joke! Jobs created in districts that don't even exist. Our tax dollars at work. You really trust these people to fix their "errors". If they did there would be NO jobs created. Excuses, excuses is all we get from this administration. Next they'll blame Bush for their blatant lies. And you think they can handle our health care?

Get to work on fixing the economy................raising taxes kills more jobs, reducing taxes creates more private sector jobs. It's not rocket science, just good old common sense that works. Too bad Democrats can't understand simple business and only understand tax and spend......which kills jobs.

Tina   November 18th, 2009 1:08 pm ET

Sounds suspicious to me. How convient to blame citizens for not knowing what to put on a form. Here's an idea, make the form easier to fill out.

KevinC   November 18th, 2009 1:07 pm ET

Bad civics classes? What?

Oh well, just another Bidenism.

Tom L   November 18th, 2009 1:07 pm ET

This administration certainly does point a lot of fingers. When do they ever accept responsibility?

Annirich   November 18th, 2009 1:04 pm ET

any way you try to pretty paint it Biden doesn't work; and if the true numbers were used we're up around 17% unemployment. Go figure.

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