In a January 29 Politico article, staff writer Patrick O'Connor reported that “Republicans complain that it may take years before the stimulus plan spurs real job growth,” later adding that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) “showed his rank and file a video that saturated the Internet last week -- including prominent placement on The Drudge Report -- in which a Joint Committee on Taxation staffer tells Michigan Rep. Dave Camp that he can't promise that the $275 billion in tax cuts in the stimulus will create any new jobs.” However, O'Connor did not note that during his January 27 testimony before the House Committee on the Budget, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) director Douglas W. Elmendorf stated of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: “According to CBO's estimates, the number of jobs would be between 0.8 million and 2.1 million higher at the end of this year, 1.2 million to 3.6 million higher at the end of next year, and 0.7 million to 2.1 million higher at the end of 2011.”

From Elmendorf's January 27 congressional testimony:

In CBO's judgment, H.R. 1 would provide a substantial boost to economic activity over the next several years relative to what would occur without any legislation. With the legislation, CBO estimates, output would be between 1.3 percent and 3.6 percent higher at the end of this year, higher by a similar amount at the end of next year, and 0.5 percent to 1.4 percent higher at the end of 2011. That additional production would raise the demand for workers, turning some part-time jobs into full-time jobs and boosting the number of people employed. According to CBO's estimates, the number of jobs would be between 0.8 million and 2.1 million higher at the end of this year, 1.2 million to 3.6 million higher at the end of next year, and 0.7 million to 2.1 million higher at the end of 2011.

From O'Connor's January 29 Politico article:

Republicans complain that it may take years before the stimulus plan spurs real job growth, but the debate has already given one political figure job security: House Minority Leader John A. Boehner.

Until the president's $820 billion plan landed in Congress, Boehner was on shaky footing inside his own caucus. But now, as he heads into the House Republicans' annual retreat this weekend in Hot Springs, Va., the Ohio Republican can use the stimulus as a unifying rallying cry for his decimated troops.

[...]

Boehner had a very rough fall; he stood with [former President] Bush on the bailout, only to watch his rank and file desert him en masse.

But he's struck a more militant pose this year -- while trying to play nice with President Barack Obama.

“I don't think the bill we're considering today meets President Obama's test,” Boehner told reporters Tuesday.

At the retreat, Boehner will urge his fellow Republicans to launch an “entrepreneurial insurgency,” according to an aide, while ignoring “inside baseball.”

In a speech to his rank and file down at the Homestead resort this weekend, Boehner will encourage them to use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs and any other electronic tool to communicate with constituents.

Boehner showed his rank and file a video that saturated the Internet last week -- including prominent placement on The Drudge Report -- in which a Joint Committee on Taxation staffer tells Michigan Rep. Dave Camp that he can't promise that the $275 billion in tax cuts in the stimulus will create any new jobs.