HispanicBusiness

As the national unemployment rate continues its steady climb, the Obama administration is trying to accelerate the speed at which the federal government saves and creates jobs by utilizing money from February's massive stimulus package.

Thus far, the spending of the $787 billion package is on schedule, according to the Wall Street Journal. But now the Obama administration is making an effort to get money out the door faster.

About a third of the package consist of tax breaks, many of which have already occurred, the paper reported. Of the remaining $499 billion, about $60 billion has been spent, which is about what the original plan called for, according to the Journal.

More broadly, the administration is still planning to have spent about 70 percent of the stimulus package by September 2010.

Efforts to speed up the process include a decision by the U.S. Department of Education to scrap the idea of distributing $8.8 billion worth of aid to individual states in two phases. Instead, the department is giving each state its total allotment upon approval of their applications.

Spurred by the administration's call for faster action, the Department of Defense, which has a stimulus outlay of $6.4 billion for repairs and construction at military facilities, recently announced a plan for $1.9 billion worth of projects to be underway by Labor Day.

Some Republicans are unhappy with the pace of spending, and have called on the federal government to pick up the pace.

"Investments in infrastructure can create jobs, but the federal project process is so burdensome that money for good projects cannot get out fast enough," said Rep. John Mica, the top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, according to the Journal.