Although national unemployment has improved slightly in recent months (it's currently at 7.7 percent), the Bureau of Labor Statistics admitted earlier this month that overall it has shown "little movement" since last September.
Nonetheless, job creation takes a distant backseat to deficit reduction with virtually every lawmaker and cable news pundit in Washington these days, frustrating Democrats who believe that spending on infrastructure will create jobs and ultimately help reduce the deficit.
But that's not the way it's playing as Congress breaks over the next two weeks for Easter recess, something that Tampa Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor admitted at a news conference on Thursday.
"Remember when we used to pass transportation bills that had a six-year lifespan?" the Representative asked in response to CL's question that it appears that the word "stimulus" has been officially banned in the nation's capital.
This article appears in Mar 28 – Apr 3, 2013.