"We have seen a lot of federal help go to a lot of organizations over the last few months, but none of that help has produced one new job," Rendell said. He cited estimates that each $1 billion in spending on public-works projects creates 40,000 new jobs _ in construction and in the industries that supply materials.
"These are not small projects _ we're not talking about potholes and curbside repaving," Rendell said. He said the governors have urged Congress to include a "use it or lose it" clause to ensure that states spend the money to stimulate the economy instead of saving it for later.
Last week, Obama directed his team of economic advisers to develop an economic stimulus plan designed to save or create 2.5 million jobs during the next two years, an effort that analysts have estimated could cost as much as $700 billion. That is on top of the $700 billion Congress already committed to shore up financial institutions and markets.
Obama has said that he wants to target some of the proposed new aid directly to state and local governments, though he has not put a number on it. Congressional leaders have said that up to $300 billion of the new spending could be sent to states and municipalities.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, told reporters Monday that the governors' wish list could total $600 billion. "The more ready-to-go projects we can put into the ground, the more people we can put to work," Corzine said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday Democrats will work to have a stimulus package ready for Obama to sign the day he takes office Jan. 20.
The measure is expected to contain many of the features the governors are advocating _ including cash for infrastructure projects and increased Medicaid aid to the states, along with tax cuts, a temporary increase in food stamp payments and investments in renewable- energy initiatives.
"It's going to be about innovation and about the future, about building the jobs of the 21st century," Pelosi said.
Economists generally agree that extended unemployment benefits, expansion of the food-stamp program and increased aid to states and localities has an immediate beneficial effect during an economic downturn.
"Increasing infrastructure spending would also greatly boost the economy, particularly in the current downturn," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com, said in a recent testimony to the Senate Budget Committee.
Skeptics, however, say that spending on public works might have merit on its own but that it takes too long to be an effective economic stimulant.
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(Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Jonathan Tamari contributed to this report.)
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(c) 2008, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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