House GOP to VP: Stop using 'inaccuate' job data

Top-ranking House Republicans called on Vice President Joe Biden to stop citing "inaccurate" statistics of jobs "created or saved" as a result of the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sent a letter to Biden on Tuesday demanding that the VP quit using statistics pulled from Recovery.gov after the website showed glaring discrepancies because it counted jobs created in non-existent congressional districts.

“Following documented gross inaccuracies and confusion associated with counting of job claims, we ask that the Administration cease public use of the inaccurate jobs “created or saved” metric and instead focus efforts on lowering the unemployment rate as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” the House GOP lawmakers wrote in the letter.

“The inaccuracy of the job creation and retention claims posted on the Administration’s website, www.recovery.gov, has not prevented Administration officials from touting this misleading and inaccurate number as evidence that the President’s stimulus spending package is succeeding even as the unemployment rate continues to rise," they wrote.

Further, they requested that Biden respond to the letter by December 1, 2009 -- two days before the administration hosts a "Jobs Summit" on Dec. 3 in an attempt to reduce the current 10.2 percent unemployment rate.

Democrats were quick to criticize the GOP leaders on Tuesday, however.

“Given that House Republicans helped create the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and not a single one voted for the recovery package, it’s hardly surprising that they root for failure while working to distract from the mess they created," said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). We will continue going district by district to set the record straight and expose House Republicans and their right wing allies' shameless hypocrisy.”