Obama Marks 100 Days, 100 Projects
President Obama visited the Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas yesterday to highlight a report from Vice President Biden that marks the progress that has been made as a result of the first 100 days of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
“In these last few months, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has saved or created nearly 150,000 jobs – jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, making homes and buildings more energy efficient,” the president said. “They’re the jobs of teachers and police officers and nurses who have not been laid off as a consequence of this Recovery Act. They’re the jobs fixing roads and bridges, jobs at start-ups and small businesses, and jobs that will put thousands of young Americans to work this summer.”
During his Nevada visit, Obama announced two new projects totaling $467 million to expand and expedite the development and use of geothermal and solar energy throughout the country.
To date, $112 billion in stimulus funds have been obligated since Obama signed the bill into law on Feb. 17. For example:
- In Southern California, construction is underway on the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Project on the San Diego Freeway, one of the most congested highways in the nation, because of a $189.9 million Recovery Act investment.
- In Cumberland, Maine, Storey Brothers Trucking, a small family-owned business that was struggling to pay its 19 employees is now back to work and boosting the local economy because of a $2 million Recovery Act grant awarded to the Portland Water District for upgrading the town’s sewer system.
- In Pearl, Mississippi, a $1.3 million Recovery Act grant award is allowing the Family Health Care Clinic to open three new branches that will offer medical and dental services to low-income and uninsured residents and provide increased job opporÂtunities in the community by employing 70 staff over the next two years.
- At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a $17.5 million Recovery Act grant is funding the development of a solar fuels research center that will conduct research on how to use artificial photosynthesis to produce low-cost and efficient solar fuels.
Read Labor Secretary Hilda Solis’ remarks on green jobs and ARRA in English and Spanish.