White House Releases $28 Billion for Highway Projects; Biden Is a 'Sheriff'

President Obama and Vice president Joe Biden this morning announced the release of $28 billion of stimulus money for highway projects at a press conference at the Department of Transportation, boasting that boasting that over 200 construction projects will be launched over the next two weeks.

According to the White House, state highway departments have already identified $750 billion worth of work that can start this month.

Additionally, we learned that Vice President Joe Biden well serve as waste, fraud, and abuse "sheriff" in overseeing how the dollars are spent: at today's press conference, Obama said, "as part of his duty, Joe will keep an eye on how precious tax dollars are being spent.  To you, he's Mr. Vice President, but around the White House, we call him the sheriff -- because if you're misusing taxpayer money, you'll have to answer to him."

After initial concerns about his lack of a defined role, and after appointing Biden to a concrete role as leader of the White House's middle class economic task force, in one week Obama has quickly defined Biden is a "sheriff" whom "nobody messes with." Not bad.