Obama to Govs: Stimulus Check's in the Mail

Within 2 days, the White House will begin distributing $15 billion to states to help them pay for Medicaid for the poor, the president said today at a National Governors' Association meeting. "That means that by the time most of you get home, money will be waiting to help 20 million vulnerable Americans in your states keep their health coverage," he said. He also confirmed that Earl Devaney, a former investigator who helped take down Jack Abramoff, would be overseeing the stimulus to guard against waste.

Obama also addressed concerns about the stimulus plan raised by a handful of Republican governors who have called the plan overly large and wasteful. "I think there are some very legitimate concerns," Obama said, but often opponents focus on small portions of the law. "If we agree on 90% of this stuff, and we're spending all our time on television arguing about 1, 2, 3% of the spending in this thing... that starts sounding more like politics." (More Earl Devaney stories.)