The Obama administration has some new numbers to defend its economic stimulus package, under fire after a barrage of reports of inflated job creation statistics.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reports that the $787 billion stimulus created or saved between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs through the end of September.

The report, released Monday, said that the total economic output was 1.2 percent to 3.2 percent higher than it would have been without the stimulus and the unemployment was between 0.3 percentage points and 0.9 percentage points lower.

The range is so wide because the numbers are so squishy -- it is difficult to show that a job was "saved" by the stimulus spending.

But Vice President Joe Biden, in charge of the recovery package, made the most of the CBO report.

“This new report from the Congressional Budget Office is further evidence of what private forecasters and government economists have been saying: the Recovery Act is already responsible for more than 1 million jobs nationwide," he said in a statement today.

"From independent economists to Congress’s own nonpartisan research body, the experts have spoken and the debate is no longer whether the Recovery Act is creating and saving jobs, but how we provide even more opportunities to drive growth and support American workers. This early progress less than halfway through the program is encouraging, but we’re just getting started. In the coming months, we’ll break ground on thousands of infrastructure projects, launch multi-billion dollar broadband and high speed rail initiatives and make critical investments in our nation’s schools and businesses through the Recovery Act that will help put America back to work and lay a foundation for long-term economic growth.”

Representative Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, questioned the "multiplier effect" that the CBO report used.

“The CBO report provides very little comfort to the 15.7 million Americans currently unemployed,” Issa said in a statement. “We know that the economy has lost more than four million jobs since passage of the stimulus. The CBO report does not account for how many of those jobs were lost as a result of $787 billion in deficit spending that takes money out of the private sector. What we have is a stimulus that is paying for government jobs with private sector jobs and has failed to lower unemployment.”

Issa also chided Biden, asserting that he was continuing the Obama administration's propaganda on the stimulus.

"Vice President Biden claims ‘more than 1 million jobs’ were created by the stimulus, yet nowhere in the CBO report does it state that ‘more than 1 million jobs were created.’ ” Issa said in his statement. “And where do the dollars spent come from? They come from borrowing against the future, running up record deficits, which Americans and their children and grandchildren will have to pay for in the future through confiscatory taxes and a weakened dollar. It’s time for the Obama Administration to stop using wasteful government spending programs and misleading statistics to substantiate their mythical jobs ‘created or saved’ numbers. Instead, they should work on a bipartisan basis with Congress to implement pro-growth policies that will reduce the tax burden, lower the deficit, improve Americans’ long-term economic well-being and put the economy back on a sustainable footing.”

Also today, the White House released a letter (read it here) from Ed DeSeve, senior adviser to the president for the stimulus plan, replying to House GOP leader John Boehner.

Boehner had blasted the administration's jobs "saved or created" numbers as entirely made up, but DeSeve said there is "nothing mysterious, ephemeral, or uncertain" about the role the recovery package has played in saving the jobs of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and others who would have been laid off by cash-strapped state and local governments.

Boehner was unconvinced.

"The Obama administration is trying to scam the American people by continuing to repeat their phony 'stimulus' claims, including the number of jobs 'saved or created' -- a metric it seems to have made up out of thin air," Boehner said in a statement. "As the CBO states on page one of their report, 'it is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.' "

UPDATE: Americans United for Change, a labor-liberal group, capitalized on the CBO report to say that Republicans should now be eating crow.

“After enabling eight years of disastrous economic policies that left our nation on the brink of depression, Congressional Republicans not only shrugged off any responsibility but stood shoulder to shoulder in opposition to the president’s plan to get the economy moving again. And they have cynically rooted for the president’s jobs and economic plan to fail every day since," Tom McMahon, the group's acting executive director, said in a statement. "It’s now clear that if the Party of NO would have had their way, up to 1.6 million American people would be out of work today. When will Congressional Republicans stop rooting for failure and start working with the President and the Democratic Leadership in Congress to continue moving the economy in the right direction?”

Americans remain inclined against the health care overhaul in Congress as debate began on the Senate floor today.

The USA Today/Gallup poll released today found 49 percent saying they would tell their representative to vote against the bill and 44 percent saying they would urge a yes vote. That's about the same split as in the survey earlier this month, but a change from 51 percent support and 41 percent disapproval in October.

While Republicans are predictably opposed and Democrats in favor, the big change is among political independents.

Gallup says: "Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to new healthcare legislation -- 86% would advise their member of Congress to vote against it, while 12% would want their member to support it. Democrats, on the other hand, favor it by a 76% to 17% margin. Independents oppose passage of a bill by 53% to 37%. Support among all three party groups has declined since the early October high -- falling by 6 points among Democrats, 8 among independents, and 12 among Republicans."

Since then, the House narrowly passed its version of the legislation, with only one Republican in support, and the Senate barely mustered enough votes to advance debate. It's unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can cobble together 60 votes again to pass a bill -- and it appears very doubtful that Congress will accede to President Obama's goal to have a bill on his desk by the end of the year.

Not that the White House is giving up. It posted a new video today in which Vice President Joe Biden urges Americans to back the plan.

"Do you trust the defenders of the status quo -- the people who say you’d be better off if you left things the way they are? Or would you rather hear from the folks who actually know something about what’s happening in the health care system, because they work in it every day?" Biden asks.

UPDATE: On the other side, Conservatives for Patients Rights launched a new ad against the public insurance option, aiming at 14 moderate senators, including Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine and Independent Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

"These individual senators hold the key to the fate of the public option," Rick Scott, chairman of Conservatives for Patients' Rights and a former health insurance executive, said in a statement. "They will decide whether America follows in the footsteps of Britain and Canada with government-run health care, or whether we reject those failed systems and focus on what Americans really want - lower health care costs.  Given the news out of Britain, it's clear that government-run health care is doomed to fail."

US leaders are urging Americans to join in the international call to stop violence against women on the 10th anniversary of a day set aside to raise awareness.

"Violence against women is found in every culture around the world. It is one of our most pervasive global problems, yet it is preventable. When gang rape is a weapon of war, when women are beaten behind closed doors, or when young girls are trafficked in brothels and fields - we all suffer. This violence robs women and girls of their full potential, causes untold human suffering, and has great social and economic costs," Vice President Joe Biden, who championed the issue while in the US Senate, said in a statement.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John F. Kerry -- joined by Senators Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Barbara Boxer of California, and Ben Cardin of Maryland -- also marked the day. Kerry said that before year's end, he will introduce a bill to officially put the US on record backing the global effort.

“The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is an important reminder of just how many women and girls continue to be subjected to violence and discrimination around the world. I applaud the UN Secretary-General’s efforts to involve boys and men in this effort; women’s safety cannot be guaranteed without their involvement,” Kerry said in a statement. “Societies where women are safe and can pursue their aspirations will realize their full social and economic potential.”

Keeping up their attack on the Obama administration's stimulus plan, top House Republicans today urged the man in charge to stop claiming jobs that haven't been confirmed.

House GOP leader John Boehner and Representative Darrell Issa, the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden telling him to stop using jobs "saved or created" figures. The administration claimed nearly 650,000 saved or claimed by last month, and said that figure put the stimulus on track to reach Obama's goal of 3.5 million by the end of next year. Read the letter here.

"Washington Democrats claimed the $787-billion ‘stimulus’ would keep unemployment below eight percent and create jobs ‘immediately.’ Instead, three million more Americans have lost their jobs, and unemployment is over ten percent. The American people are asking, ‘where are the jobs?’ but rather than work with Republicans on common-sense solutions to get our economy moving again, the White House is pressing ahead with a job-killing agenda, including a ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax and a trillion-dollar government takeover of health care." Boehner said in a statement.

"Worse, they are attempting to disguise the fact that the ‘stimulus’ isn’t working by releasing a stream of questionable - or outright inaccurate - statistics, including the number of jobs ‘saved or created’ – a metric the Obama Administration seems to have made up out of thin air. It’s time to bring facts back to this debate, and a good first step would be for Vice President Biden to stop citing these fictitious figures."

UPDATE: For their part, Democrats are pointing out that more than a few House Republicans -- 67 and counting, they say -- have tried to reap the political benefits of stimulus projects, though they all voted against the package.

"Given that House Republicans helped create the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and not a single one voted for the Recovery Package, it's hardly surprising that they root for failure while working to distract from the mess they created. We will continue going District by District to set the record straight and expose House Republicans and their Right Wing allies' shameless hypocrisy," Ryan Rudominer, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman, said in a statement.

The administration's jobs count from the $787 billion stimulus has been widely questioned, with some numbers inflated and others impossible to verify and recipients of grants complaining that the forms are difficult to fill out.

Independent congressional watchdogs testified last week that while the stimulus has helped, they could not confirm any count. Many economists also agree that the stimulus has helped slow job losses, though it is exceedingly difficult to quantify.

President Obama turned today to his role as mourner-in-chief, traveling to Fort Hood in Texas to console victims and their families and to lead a nationally televised memorial service.

The solemn duty -- honoring the 13 people killed and 29 wounded last week, allegedly by a fellow soldier -- is Obama's first such observance since taking office in January.

"We come together filled with sorrow for the 13 Americans that we have lost, with gratitude for the lives that they led, and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on. This is a time of war. And yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great state, in the heart of this great American community. It is this fact that makes the tragedy even more painful, even more incomprehensible," Obama told the assembled Army soldiers in uniform, civilians, and dignitaries, after he and first lady Michelle Obama met privately with the families of the dead, then with wounded soldiers and their families.

To honor them, he mentioned each of the dead by name and said a little about them and their stories, speaking on an outdoor stage behind the traditional display of each victim's Army boots, rifle, and helmet, with a framed photo in front.

"These men and women came from all parts of the country. Some had long careers in the military. Some had signed up to serve in the shadow of 9/11. Some had known intense combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some cared for those did. Their lives speak to the strength, the dignity, and the decency of those who serve, and that is how they will be remembered," the president said.

"It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know -- no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts, no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice -- in this world, and the next," Obama added.

"These are trying times for our country. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the same extremists who killed nearly 3,000 Americans continue to endanger America, our allies, and innocent Afghans and Pakistanis. In Iraq, we are working to bring a war to a successful end, as there are still those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that Americans and Iraqis have sacrificed so much for," he said on the eve of Veterans Day on Wednesday.

"As we face these challenges, the stories of those at Fort Hood reaffirm the core values that we are fighting for, and the strength that we must draw upon. Theirs are the tales of American men and women answering an extraordinary call -- the call to serve their comrades, their communities, and their country. In an age of selfishness, they embody responsibility. In an era of division, they call upon us to come together. In a time of cynicism, they remind us of who we are as Americans."

Obama used the ceremony to pay tribute to all those in the military, saying they are as valiant and performing as important a duty as the Greatest Generations and others who served before them.

"We need not look to the past for greatness, because it is before our very eyes," he told the soldiers.

"This generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen have volunteered in a time of certain danger. They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known. They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different and difficult places. They have stood watch in blinding deserts and on snowy mountains. They have extended the opportunity of self-government to peoples that have suffered tyranny and war. They are man and woman; white, black, and brown; of all faiths and stations – all Americans, serving together to protect our people, while giving others half a world away the chance to lead a better life.

"In today’s wars, there is not always a simple ceremony that signals our troops’ success – no surrender papers to be signed, or capital to be claimed," he added. "But the measure of their impact is no less great – in a world of threats that no know borders, it will be marked in the safety of our cities and towns, and the security and opportunity that is extended abroad. And it will serve as testimony to the character of those who serve, and the example that you set for America and for the world."

(His full remarks are below.)

The president's only similar duty was two weeks ago, paying tribute to 18 troops killed in Afghanistan, but that was far less public -- in the middle of the night at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and witnessed by only a few reporters.

Vice President Joe Biden also had memorial duty today, speaking t Fort Lewis in Washington state at a memorial service for seven soldiers killed on Oct. 27 in Afghanistan. His full remarks are below.

Vice President Joe Biden heads to Michigan today to talk up the Obama administration's efforts to boost the economy.

He will meet with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to discuss jobs, which are in short supply in a state where the recession started earlier than much of the country and where the unemployment rate is still the nation's highest.

UPDATE: According to the press pool report, Biden told a Democratic fund-raiser that the stimulus package and other economic programs are "working," but "we've got a long way to go."

But Biden said at least Democrats "get it" and want to make investments in energy and infrastructure that will grow the economy in the long term, while Republicans are "betting on us to fail."

Echoing the president, Biden also said it's easy to forget "just how horrible things were back in January," according to the pool report.

"This was an economy built on a bubble. The rules were being made by the cowboys on Wall Street."

Biden is being greeted by a radio ad from the Republican National Committee. (Listen to it here.)

“Back in February the Obama administration promised the so-called stimulus would bring much-needed jobs to Michigan. Nine months later, 178,000 more Michiganders have lost their jobs bringing unemployment to 15.3 percent – the highest in the entire country, and our nation’s employment rate now exceeds 10 percent," RNC Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement. "More than anything the people of Michigan need jobs, yet Vice President Biden and Michigan Democrats Mark Schauer and Gary Peters are spending their time fundraising. It’s time for the Democrats to make their constituents a priority and start working to bring jobs back to Michigan.”

The Obama administration said this afternoon that more than 640,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Obama's economic stimulus plan at state and local governments, nonprofit groups, and universities.

The 640,329 are in reports covering approximately $160 billion, which represents a little less than half of the funds spent through Sept. 30. Counting jobs linked to $288 billion in tax cuts, White House officials say the $787 billion stimulus plan has already created or saved more than 1 million jobs.

“These reports are strong confirmation that the Recovery Act is responsible for over one million jobs so far and we are on-track to create and save 3.5 million jobs through the Recovery Act by the end of next year. This is another encouraging sign of progress following yesterday’s news that the economy has begun to grow again for the first time in more than a year, but the President and I will not be satisfied until monthly reports show net job growth. We are working every day to create more jobs and we will continue to report on our progress doing so with the Recovery Act in the same transparent way we did today,” Vice President Joe Biden, who is overseeing the stimulus, said in an event with Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Republican, and Martin O’Malley, the Maryland Democrat.

The official numbers were posted late this afternoon on the website of the independent board overseeing the stimulus. The state-by-state breakdown can be viewed here.

A separate report released today by Jared Bernstein, Biden's chief economist, asserted that the new data confirms the administration is on-track to meet its goal of creating and saving at least 3.5 million jobs by next year. The report also found that the states with the highest unemployment rates nationwide reported 25 percent more jobs created and saved per capita than the nation as a whole.

The government numbers include 23,533 jobs that officials say were retained as a result of spending $1.9 billion in federal stimulus money over the past eight months in Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick announced that estimate on Wednesday, but then on Thursday announced he would eliminate nearly 1,000 state jobs to help close a $600 million budget gap.

But the Republican National Committee is aggressively disputing the numbers, citing an Associated Press report this week that an earlier stimulus status report had overstated the jobs numbers.

"Today's release from the White House will be the fourth job report in the last two months," it said today. "With a pattern of these White House 'jobs created or saved' reports being published in close proximity to releases of real data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (showing continuing job loss and rising unemployment), it is clear the Obama administration is trying to cover up economic reality by manufacturing job numbers out of thin air."