Thornberry responds to unemployment rates
Friday, November 06, 2009 at 11:58 a.m.
Read more: Local, State, Economy, Business, White House, President Barack Obama, Obama, Mac Thornberry, Thornberry, Unemployment, Democratic, Robert Gibbs
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says new figures showing national unemployment has hit the double-digit mark are regretful and says he's working hard to restore the struggling economy.
Standing in the White House Rose Garden, Obama called the new jobs report another illustration of why much more work is needed to spur business creation and consumer spending. He appeared a few hours after the government reported that the jobless rate hit 10.2 percent last month, the highest since 1983. The rate was 9.8 percent in September.
Obama noted legislation he's signing to provide additional unemployment benefits to people thrown out of work. And he said " "I will not rest until all Americans want work can find work."
Congressman Mac Thorberry issued this official response to the unemployment numbers just minutes ago.
“The news that the national unemployment rate has hit more than 10 percent is alarming and should be a wake-up call to the President and congressional Democrats that their economic plan has failed. The $787 billion stimulus bill that was rammed through Congress did nothing to jump start the economy or create jobs. In fact, we have lost nearly three million jobs since the bill took effect. What do we have to show for it? A 26-year high unemployment rate, mountains of debt, and the biggest federal budget deficit in U.S. history.
Yet, instead of acknowledging their measures have failed, the Administration and its congressional allies choose to stick their head in the sand and ram through legislation like Cap and Trade, Cash for Clunkers, and now a trillion-dollar health care bill. If the Democrats pass their health care bill with its onerous employer mandates and its $750 billion in new taxes, we could lose millions more American jobs. Don’t just take my word for it—analysis developed by President Obama’s chief economic advisors and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office agrees that jobs could be lost due to this bill’s new taxes and regulations.
Creating job-killing taxes and layers of new regulation is exactly the wrong way to improve our economy, restore our jobs, and put America back on the right track. It’s time for the President and congressional Democrats to wake up and realize it.”
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
