The ineffectiveness of President Obama’s $789 billion economic stimulus plan made headlines last month when numbers showed the unemployment rate at an unacceptable 9.1 percent and hiring at an eight-month low.

The President had promised that the massive spending bill would keep unemployment under 8 percent when it became law in February 2009.

Now a new report from White House advisers reveals the extent of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s wasteful and unnecessary spending of taxpayer money. The report, written by a team of economists on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, says the stimulus has saved or created between 2.4 million and 3.6 million jobs at a cost of $666 billion. This means that for every job accounted for by the stimulus, taxpayers footed a bill of up to $278,000.

I voted against President Obama’s stimulus plan two years ago because it wasted taxpayer money on a strategy that took the wrong approach to unemployment and dug us deeper into debt.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in the United States is $50,221 per year. A job with a $278,000 price tag is an outrageous use of tax dollars from hardworking Americans.

Challenging economic times call for focused leadership and proven results. Since President Obama took office, our national debt has grown by 35 percent — to more than $14 trillion — because of runaway spending tied to the stimulus, corporate bailouts and Obamacare mandates. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan summed President Obama’s decisions in four words: “He made it worse.”

More than a month has passed since I joined Senate Republicans at a White House meeting with President Obama and called for something to be done about our country’s unprecedented deficit. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, has called our growing debt the greatest threat to America’s national security. Borrowing 40 cents of every dollar spent is unacceptable and unfair to future generations. We cannot afford more wasteful spending.

Last week, I reiterated from the Senate Floor how important it is to address the debt and spending crisis and called on my colleagues for frank and honest discussion.

We must learn from the failure of the President’s stimulus plan and move forward with fiscal discipline in Washington.

Unlike the stimulus, our strategy must not place more burden on taxpayers already struggling in a tough economic climate.

Balancing the budget is a key step in restoring the confidence that Americans need for economic recovery. The ability of small businesses to invest and create jobs — vital to our economy’s well-being — should not be hampered by a growing national debt or looming tax threats. Every dollar Washington saves is one less dollar taken from taxpayers and the private sector.

I am a co-sponsor of the Balanced Budget Amendment, which would require Congress to pass a balanced budget each year and cap federal spending at 18 percent of gross domestic product.

Senate Democrats have not taken a serious approach to confront the spending problem and have failed to bring a budget to a vote for more than two years. American families work hard to live within their means and pay their bills.

We must use this opportunity in Washington to do so, too.

Sen. Roger Wicker is a Republican representing Mississippi in the U.S. Senate.