'Shovel Ready' Projects are Key to Stanching Economic Bleed, Says Obama Adviser

Infrastructure, or "shovel-ready," projects are set to get underway almost immediately after President Obama signs the $787 billion stimulus bill on Tuesday, his senior adviser said Sunday.

"There will be signs of activity very quickly," David Axelrod told "FOX News Sunday," though he admitted that Americans feeling the stimulus in their wallets through the creation of new jobs may take longer.

Axelrod said that he expects unemployment figures -- now at 7.6 percent -- to get worse before they get better.

"It's going to take time that to show up in the stats," he said. "Without this program, it could be much much worse and so I don't expect the arrow to bend down by the end of the year. but I do expect the rise in unemployment to be retarded by the things that were done this week."

The White House is standing by its estimate that the package will save or create 3.5 million jobs.

But most Republicans don't see it happening that way, and neither do some economists. Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com puts the jobs number at 2 million to 2.5 million. He said he expects unemployment to go up by the end of next year to 9 percent and could peak at 10 percent. Zandi said he wanted an even larger stimulus.

Zandi told "FOX News Sunday" that he faults the White House with three errors in their planning, including the rate at which infrastructure spending will be distributed. He said that putting a fix on the Alternative Minimum Tax -- $70 billion of the $787 billion package -- is not stimulatory and people won't "behave as if that tax cut is permanent," which it is not.

"That translates into a lower unemployment rate of about a point to a point and a half," he said.

But Axelrod responded that that is one man's view.

"I respect Mr. Zandi but there are all kinds of analyses by many economists saying different things," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We believe the 3 to 4 million number is an accurate number, a good guess. But look this -- you know there are some unknowns here. Let's give this a try. This is the most ambitious recovery package in the history of this country and let's move forward with this."

Most Republicans say the bill is mainly spending, and not tax cuts, which they argue is a better way to encourage job growth. Sen. Lindsey Graham told ABC's "This Week" that relieving work requirements for welfare recipients is an example of the waste that can be found in the 1,100-page legislation.

"There are things in this bill that make the public want to throw up. They know it doesn't create a job. It just creates more government. And we blew it," he said.

As the money rolls out, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee led by Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of three Republicans in Congress to support the bill, say they will have tight oversight of the spending. They've already scheduled their first hearing on the spending for March 5.

Lieberman said they want to set up a system to block waste and fraud before the money starts rolling out.

Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., a member of the House Transportation Committee, said her panel will hold hearings every 30 days to determine how many jobs were created and how much money was spent.

Edwards said her state is ready to have infrastructure projects moving in the next 90 days and the bill will create 66,000 jobs in Maryland.

"I know that states across this country have projects ready to go, where the engineering is done, the design is done and the governors" have signed off, she said.

But Rep Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., said the committees can have all the oversight they want, it won't stop the money from going into wasteful projects.

"My concern remains that this is a trillion dollar bill that does more harm than good. Overall it's not going to do what's necessary," he said.

FOX News' Caroline Shively contributed to this report.