Today marks the 200th day since President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. Vice President Biden, who has been overseeing the Act’s implementation, delivered his first major domestic policy speech as Vice President at the Brookings Institute this morninng, where he gave a progress update, and highlighted voices outside the administration – including Wall Street analysts and academic economists – who have praised the Act’s success so far.

Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, “U.S. Economy Gets Lift From Stimulus”:

“…Economists say the money out the door -- combined with the expectation of additional funds flowing soon -- is fueling growth above where it would have been without any government action. Many forecasters say stimulus spending is adding two to three percentage points to economic growth in the second and third quarters, when measured at an annual rate. The impact in the second quarter, calculated by analyzing how the extra funds flowing into the economy boost consumption, investment and spending, helped slow the rate of decline and will lay the groundwork for positive growth in the third quarter -- something that seemed almost implausible just a few months ago.”

Thanks to the Recovery Act, 95 percent of Americans are already receiving the Making Work Pay tax cut and tens of thousands of teachers, law enforcement officials and firefighters have been able to stay on the job because of the billions of dollars in Recovery Act funds made available to state and local governments. More than 30,000 Recovery Act projects have already been approved.