UPDATED: W.H. says stimulus created or saved 1 million jobs

The $787 billion stimulus has helped slow the recession, boosting economic growth and saving or creating about 1 million jobs, according to White House economists.

The White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) sought to quantify the stimulus's effects using macroeconomic models. They found that the stimulus, passed in February, added between 2.2 and 3.1 percentage points to GDP in the second quarter and as much as 3.6 percentage points in the third quarter. Their economic models also found the stimulus to save or create about 500,000 jobs in the second quarter of this year and another 500,000 in the third quarter, which ends in September.

President Obama said that the stimulus would save or create 3 million jobs over the next two years.

Christina Romer, the CEA's chairwoman, said that the "economy that was in free fall and [had] a tremendous amount of downward momentum has certainly seen something different" because of the stimulus. The CEA projections are in line with the estimates of the stimulus's effect by Goldman Sachs, Moody's and other private economists.

She noted that the United States and other countries that have enacted large stimulus packages, including China and Japan, have outperformed projections of how their economies would perform if they had went without the stimulus spending. 

"Countries with stimulus seem to be having better than expected outcomes," she said.

Of the $787 billion in stimulus spending, $151.4 billion has been spent as of August and another $128.2 billion has been obligated to stimulus recipients.

Republicans said that the White House's stimulus job estimates are using "smoke and mirrors to mask the failure" of the stimulus.

"The reality for countless Americans whose jobs have not been ‘saved’ is they get to join the ranks of the three million neighbors, friends and family members who have become unemployed since President Obama took office," said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

Lawmakers used the new data to tussle over the stimulus's effectiveness.

Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said that the White House's macroeconomic models have produced "deceptive and self-serving reports."

"By creating the immeasurable metric of 'jobs created or saved,' the administration can make job claims month after month that fly in the face of economic reality," he said.

But House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said the data showed it was "clear that the stimulus package has helped pull the economy back from the brink."

"From day one there have been people who want to see this effort fail and have tried to discredit it," Obey said. "But the fact is this report shows that, in what is in essence just the third inning of this effort, the recovery act is doing what it was intended to do."