WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden asserted this morning that taxpayers have "gotten their money's worth" out of the $787 billion stimulus program that Congress passed during the depths of the recession.

In an interview broadcast on CBS's "The Early Show," Biden defended the program against accusations by Republicans critics that it hasn't been the job-manufacturing machine the administration promised to the American people.

He argued that money invested in both private and public-sector initiatives has saved as many as 2 million jobs.

Biden said the program, now a year old, was designed to be implemented in two stages, saying "we've only been halfway through the act."

Christina Romer, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in a separate interview today that one component of the stimulus program had worked especially well.

"State fiscal relief really has kept hundreds of thousands of teachers and firefighters and first responders on the job," she said.

"We have seen productivity surge," Romer said. "And that, at one level, is a good sign out the economy. But absolutely, we've got to translate GDP growth into employment growth. Right now, the employment numbers look basically stable. We think we're going to see positive job growth by spring."