Obama's Caterpillar Lie

Yesterday, President Barack Obama claimed that Caterpillar, the giant Illinois-based heavy equipment manufacturer, would hire back its 22,000 laid off workers if his stimulus plan passed Congress. After an appearance with the President in Peoria today, Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens backed away from that commitment. ABC News' Jake Tapper reports, "Asked if the stimulus package would be able to stop the 22,000 layoffs or not, Owens said, 'I think realistically no. The truth is we're going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again.'" That's right. Caterpillar plans to lay off more workers before it even considers any rehires.

There was more bad news from the Land of Lincoln for Obama's stimulus plan. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a big supporter of Obama's stimulus plan, has refused to tell the public what's in the Obama stimulus plan for the Windy City. The Sun-Times says Daley has lobbied Congress in recent days to include money for a $15 billion modernization program for O'Hare Airport, but news comes today that federal prosecutors have widened their ongoing investigation of pay-to-play corruption to include the awarding of multi-million dollar construction contracts at the airport to a handful of companies by Daley's administration. Two former aides of Daley, Christopher Kelly and John Harris, both of whom later worked for former Gov. Blagojevich, are at the center of the probe according to the Sun-Times. Kelly has already been indicted by the government on other charges, and Harris was arrested along with Blagojevich by federal authorities last December. He is awaiting a formal indictment.