AP:

Trumpeting economic progress to a skeptical nation, Vice President Joe Biden says the massive government program intended to stimulate and reshape the economy is reaching and exceeding goals. Nearly 200 days into the effort, Biden says it is more effective “than we had hoped.”

Forget how the national unemployment rate has increased most months since the stimulus passed; I would just note that despite all the promises and pledges that all the projects were “shovel-ready,” the construction sector has lost tens of thousands of jobs every month since the stimulus passed.

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Employment in construction declined by 76,000 in July, about in line with the average for the past 3 months (-73,000). Employment had decreased by 117,000 a month on average from November to April.

Also note that the unemployment rate in the construction sector is 18.2 percent.

(A House panel is hiding behind that “saved or created” number.)