Hensarling Statement on Latest Unemployment Report
WASHINGTON – House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) issued the following statement today regarding the latest jobs report released by the U.S. Department of Labor.
“The improvement in our nation’s jobs report is welcome news and demonstrates the resilience of the free enterprise economy in spite of the onslaught of the Democrats’ big government agenda. But the real question is why is it taking so long and why is the recovery so weak? The modest improvement can be attributed to two factors – the free-market economy is slowly moving toward a recovery from this deep recession, and with Republicans controlling one lever of the lawmaking powers, job creators know the upper limits of the Democrats’ legislative pain is behind them.
“Today’s news is still a far cry from the 8 percent or below unemployment rate that Democrats predicted when arguing for the stimulus, which ended up costing more than $1 trillion. The unemployment rate has now hovered around or above 9 percent for the past 22 months, topping 8 percent for the last 25 months. To see real improvement, we must address America’s spending-driven debt crisis and break down the barriers of uncertainty that prevents employers from hiring more workers.
“You can’t help the job seeker by punishing the job creator. Our first actions in the majority - voting to repeal ObamaCare, identifying regulatory barriers to job growth, eliminating the 1099 tax mandate, and sending the Senate a bill that rolls back spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels – are all designed to put us back on the long road to prosperity and job growth.
“While the White House and Senate may refuse to enact our policies, it’s our hope that these actions will increase confidence in the private sector by guaranteeing a check on the Democrats’ reckless spending and job-crushing regulations.”
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For additional information, contact:
House Republican Conference Press Office (conferencepress@mail.house.gov)
