That said, it might not be that the government needs to allocate billions more to spending but rather speed up execution of projects already budgeted in the $862 billion stimulus plan passed last year.

Less than a third of the $230 billion allocated for infrastructure projects has been spent to date, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. This is a piece of the stimulus legislation critical to job creation -- the public projects such as roads and bridges, modernizing the electricity grid, expanding the nation's broadband Internet network and launching new high-speed rail services.

More of the stimulus legislation should have been allocated for these purposes, but large chunks went to tax cuts, unemployment benefits and food stamps and aid to states for Medicaid and public education. Most of this money has been spent. In fact, Congress approved another $10 billion, signed into law earlier this month, for schools and Medicaid.

Of the $230 billion for infrastructure, $182 billion has been awarded to projects, according to The Journal. Only $66 billion has been spent, but this to some extent is a function of the pace of construction and time to project completion.

In other words, the stimulus bill will continue to create jobs.

What we don't want to do is to stop the spending. While rerouting it toward deficit reduction sounds great, this is the wrong time. The best way to lower the deficit long-term is to get the economy rolling again.

So we could use a little less rhetoric from politicians, mostly Republicans -- including our own congressman, Jerry Moran, who likes to brag that he is one of only a few House members to vote against every stimulus and "bailout" bill. Again, that sounds great -- especially in an election year -- but it isn't responsible economic policy.

These statements are easy enough to say when one has a comfortable employment situation, but such positions are reckless with an economy teetering between growth and a second recession.

The answer is not to cut off government spending. The answer is to break apart the bureaucracy of the federal government that apparently is slowing the progress on infrastructure projects that could create more jobs at a time when job growth is critically needed.