Vice President Joe Biden told America to be patient during his visit to New York yesterday, assuring concerned citizens that stimulus money is on the way.
The Vice President was in town to tout President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan – a promise of relief that many Americans think has taken too long to be fulfilled. Thus far, less than a fifth -- $126 billion -- of the total stimulus plan has been directed to a cause and even less of that money has been spent, according to The New York Daily News.
"You're going to see things start to really change in the second hundred days," Biden assured a business roundtable at Pace University's Lubin School of Business. "You're going to see this thing begin to move."
But don't be fooled, Biden cautioned. Americans eager to tap into their stimulus checks could easily fall prey to scammers who trick them into revealing their Social Security numbers or personal information for money they'll never actually get. The Federal Trade Commission has already unearthed schemes on the Internet trying to weasel secure information out of people under the auspices of providing a fast track to stimulus cash.
"There are these scam artists out there sending people applications," Biden said. "And we know some of this money is going to be wasted."
Biden managed to slip out of New York without a major foot-in-the-mouth moment during his two-day visit, but, as has become customary, his office had to do a little refining of his comments afterward. This time, the remark was about Gov. David Paterson.
Biden hailed Paterson as "your once and future governor" at a fund-raiser Monday Night – a commendation many perceived as an endorsement for the governor's run for re-election, according to the Daily News.
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His staff was quick to clarify the following day, saying Biden's comment "was a statement of friendship and admiration for the governor, and was not intended as a political statement."
