In a speech before Congress Thursday night, President Barack Obama repeatedly said that his $450 billion jobs plan would not add to the deficit. He has promised to offer more specifics about how the plan will be paid for in about a week.

In the meantime, Obama’s critics are voicing skepticism. Washington Post political reporter Chris Cilliza published a list of comments from Republicans who were quick to criticize the president for wanting another government stimulus. 

Cilliza points out that Obama deliberately didn’t use the word “stimulus” in his speech. After all, a June NBC poll shows that a majority of Americans do not believe that the 2009 stimulus improved the U.S. economy.

That stance is a refrain among Republicans, and a position that Rep. Mazie Hirono — a loyal Democrat — rejects. 

“That totally defies logic and reality,” Hirono told DC808 in an interview before the president’s speech. “If Congress can work together and focus on jobs, we can do things like we did on the stimulus bill… Bills like the stimulus bill did create jobs.”

Hirono’s frustration with her colleagues across the aisle is clear. While she talked about the importance of focusing on jobs, she was quick to say that getting anything done would be difficult “if the new leadership in the House doens’t want to go there.”

Sen. Daniel Akaka, too, mentioned new House leadership as an obstacle, and said in an interview with DC808 that “the Tea Party people” could make it difficult for Congress to pass Obama’s plan.