President Obama urges states to use the stimulus money wisely VIDEO of speech

[BirminghamExaminer]

Excerpt of article that contains the full speech from today:

Speaking before state legislators today, President Obama urged states to be thoughtful and cautious in using the federal stimulus funds they will receive from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or ARRA.

Obama announced a set of guidelines for the stimulus package. In an example, he said that stimulus funds shouldn't be used to build dog parks and joked that he has nothing 'against' dog parks and reminded listeners that his family is soon getting a dog.

President Obama asked that states use the funds in ways which would create the most jobs and benefit the economy and cautioned legislators not to be overly influenced by lobbyists. To ensure that lobbyists don't take control of stimulus funds, Obama said that his administration will post all requests by lobbyists for stimulus funds on an internet site. He further explained that lobbyists would have to submit any requests in writing.

President Obama reiterated the need for transparency in terms of the ARRA and reminded the audience to visit the ARRA website, recovery.gov.

I recorded the video and uploaded it to YouTube. Forgive the brief TiVo bar on screen. To see video and read article, click here.