What Stimulus Package Means for Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The $787 billion stimulus package has been signed by President Barack Obama. Obama says this plan will mean jobs and many workers in Minnesota say they can't come soon enough.

Governor Tim Pawlenty was an outspoken critic of the stimulus bill, but now that it's been signed, the state is doing all it can to get the most it can out of this package.

For many members of the local 49 union, work has been very slow.

Jeff Matorn has been in construction for decades, and has never seen it this slow. But he and the other 49'ers hope the stimulus fires up the equipment, and morale.

"It's your life, it's your job," says Matorn. "There are a lot of people ready to go to work, contractors ready to go to work."

The stimulus package is set to deliver an estimated $4 billion to Minnesota and a $600 million of which would go towards road construction and infrastructure, possibly 12,000 new jobs this year.

According to the White House, the stimulus bill will create 66,000 jobs in Minnesota.

That's compared to 70,000 jobs in Wisconsin, 37,000 in Iowa, and 8,000 in North Dakota.

Tom Hanson is the Commissioner of the Office of Management and Budget.

He is also the state's federal stimulus coordinator.

"We will do our very best to use every dollar of this effectively, transparently and wisely to help as many people as we possibly can," says Hanson.

The plan will spend nearly $2 billion on health care in Minnesota, and nearly a billion on education.

Matorn hopes the stimulus bill is a turning point for the construction industry and for the country.