Congressman Blasts White House for Faulty Job Data on Government Web Site

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FOXNews.com

The government Web site -- Recovery.gov -- is under fire for posting a number of jobs created in congressional districts that don't exist and for accepting unrealistic data from several reporting outlets.

The Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee is demanding greater accountability from the the Obama administration after gross inaccuracies were found on a government Web site that tracks jobs purportedly saved or created by the $787 billion stimulus plan.

In a statement late Monday, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, chairman of the House committee, called the inaccuracies "outrageous" and said the administration owes the American public "a commitment to work night and day to correct the ludicrous mistakes."

"Credibility counts in government and stupid mistakes like this undermine it," Obey said. "We designed the Recovery Act to be open and transparent and I expect the the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, who oversees the recovery act Web site and data to have information that is accurate, reliable and understandable to the American public."

The site -- Recovery.gov -- is under fire for posting a number of jobs created in congressional districts that don't exist and for accepting unrealistic data from several reporting outlets.

For instance, the Web site reported that 30 jobs were saved or created with $761,420 of federal stimulus spending in Arizona's 15th Congressional District. One problem with the claim -- the state has only eight districts

The site also lists 12 other non-existent districts in Arizona where jobs were reportedly saved or created. It also lists imaginary districts in at least three other states, including Oklahoma, Iowa, and Connecticut.

One recipient of stimulus funds, Talladega County of Alabama, claimed that it had saved or created 5,000 jobs from only $42,000 in government money -- which would amount to $8.40 in annual income per job if each position received an equal amount of funding.

ABC News reported Monday that the White House slashed 60,000 jobs from its most recent report on the recovery program as a result of the faulty data.