House Democrats tout government action to spur ailing economy

House Democrats touted the government’s actions to spur the ailing economy, highlighting the support of economists who said federal policies have helped end the deep recession.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) convened a three-hour forum Tuesday so congressional leaders could get an update on economic progress and the pace of recovery. The event was designed to underscore Democrats’ focus on job creation heading into the fall’s midterm elections.

In a press briefing afterward, economists provided an optimistic outlook for the recovery while acknowledging the long-term challenge of reining in the nation’s enormous deficit and debt.

Princeton University economist Alan Blinder said that both the financial system and the broader economy were in much better shape “than seemed likely” when President Barack Obama took office in January 2009.

“Not all of the credit for that belongs in Washington, but some of it does,” Blinder said, referring in part to the $700 billion financial rescue package enacted in October 2008 and the economic stimulus bill signed in February 2009.

With the unemployment rate hovering near double digits, Democratic leaders in Congress have tried for months to project a sharp focus on job creation, even as other issues — from healthcare to financial reform — have dominated the political debate. Pelosi repeated that emphasis on Tuesday and said the Wall Street reform bill that is now on the legislative front burner is also, in effect, a jobs bill.

“This issue of jobs and Wall Street reform are directly related,” Pelosi said. “The recklessness on Wall Street caused tremendous joblessness on Main Street.”

The House has sent “a number of jobs bills” to the Senate in recent months, Pelosi said, including a $154 billion measure in December that the Senate has yet to act on.