In a statement released today, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards defended his newly proposed economic stimulus package against criticism from his GOP rival Rudy Giuliani.

Edwards’ plan—which he unveiled Saturday while campaigning in Iowa—called on Congress to pass at least a $25 billion jobs plan in early 2008 and be ready to pass $75 billion more should there be signs of an economic recession. In addition, Edwards called for investing in clean energy initiatives, helping states afford programs to fight poverty, universalizing unemployment insurance, and addressing the housing crisis.

But the proposal was met with derision from Rudy Giuliani, who today on ABC’s “This Week” laughed when George Stephanopoulos described Edwards’ plan, saying, “That’s the usual Democratic-almost like you know, spend, spend, spend program.”

“Best thing to do is to not have government handouts available, big government handouts available,” Giuliani continued. “The best thing to do is to stimulate the private economy. A much better use of that would be a really good tax reduction, that would bring more jobs.”

In response to Giuliani’s remarks, Edwards issued the following statement:

“The average family’s income has actually decreased over the last seven years, at the same time the costs of health care, energy and housing are skyrocketing. But while hard-working families on Main Street are struggling to make ends meet, Giuliani is only concerned about the profits of his Wall Street buddies.”

The back and forth carping between the two candidates didn’t stop there. Giuliani’s replied by criticizing Edwards for his stance on the Iraq war and his blaming Bush for consequent economic strains on domestic programs:

“We’ve got a lot of problems, but it’s not George Bush and business,” Giuliani said. “George Bush made the right decision about Iraq, and we’ve got to stick with it.”