On WTTW's Chicago Tonight yesterday, GOP Rep. Mark Kirk asserted that only $63 billion of President Obama's stimulus plan went to creating jobs.  He added, "The question is: What is the other $700 billion spent on?"  Watch it (full video here):

It's fine if the Republicans want to oppose the non-infrastructure-related spending in the recovery package as somehow not stimulative (despite economists of all stripes disagreeing with them on this point).  But it's irresponsible for Kirk to suggest that we somehow don't know what the rest of the money is going towards.  

Perhaps Kirk needs to refresh his memory.  If so, we suggest he read the line-by-line summary of the stimulus bill compiled by ProPublica.  Alternatively, he can read our post from February detailing how the stimulus funds are going to be distributed in Illinois -- on education funding, state "stabilization" payments, aid to workers and needy families, energy efficiency advancements, and so on.  As we noted this morning, more and more of these funds are hitting Illinois with every passing week and making headlines as they do.  To her credit, Rep. Melissa Bean -- who appeared with Kirk on the program -- later highlighted how many of these programs are impacting her district.

(As a sidenote, Kirk also said during the appearance that he plans to decide about running for higher office in "early May.")