Iowa State officials are defending Gov. Chet Culver’s I-Jobs program Tuesday. They say it has helped to rebuild the parts of Iowa damaged by the 2008 floods and the current recession.

Jim Larew, Culver’s chief of staff, claims that a new report shows the I-JOBS program has been helpful to communities like Cedar Rapids and Coralville, which were ravaged by the so-called 500-year flood that occurred at the Iowa River in 2008. The program has helped such communities obtain funding to aid in rebuilding through short-term construction jobs.

Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Governor Terry Branstad have launched a campaign claiming that the program has not helped job loss in Iowa. However, Larew says that I-JOBS is slowly creating jobs, having created 7,000 positions in 1,700 in the Mid-western state.

“These are real projects that continue to look at Iowa,” Larew said. “When you build the infrastructure, you make Iowa competitive.”