WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, made the following statement regarding the Department of Labor’s September employment report released today.
“Today’s poor employment report is yet another sign that the Democrats’ economic policies are failing America. For the last two years, the policies of the Obama administration, supported by Democrat majorities in both chambers of Congress, have stifled economic growth. As the national unemployment rate continues to hover over 9.5 percent for the 14th straight month, the American people are rightfully angry at the failed Democrat leadership coming out of Washington.”
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard was on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning and when asked about preventing the Democrat’s tax increase, Bullard replied “Increasing taxes when the economy is trying to recover is not a good plan.”
An article of note from Congress Daily discusses the Administration’s request for roughly $50 billion in state aid – a $23 billion state bailout ostensibly for teachers that may get added to the supplemental in the House and a $24 billion in FMAP money currently in the Senate “extenders” bill. The article quotes the Senate Minority Whip Kyl raising some good points:
Citing spending for state and local governments in the 2009 stimulus package he said "spending billions of dollars on state and local governments hasn't helped them to solve their financial problem thus far." He noted that 7.4 percent of private-sector jobs have been lost during the recession, while local governments have lost less than 1 percent.
To Democrats, the loss of 1 percent of the local government workforce is a tragedy that calls for immediate bailouts paid for with tax increases and more debt, neither of which do anything to help the more than 14 million unemployed private sector workers.
Cato points out the enormous increase in federal grants to states in the last decade, taken from the Administration’s Analytical Perspectives:
Table Source: Cato Institute
Before the budgetless Democrats continue this trend, perhaps someone should remind them that the country is broke.
RPC Analyst Jon Lieber
Congress Daily highlights Senator Tester’s effort to drop the $25/week additional benefit from the unemployment extension, in an attempt to find a bill that is palatable to 60 Senators. This would save roughly $6 billion of the $41 billion UI extension. CongressDaily wryly points out that since the GOP alternative contains these additional benefits, “Tester's amendment would be less generous to the unemployed than the GOP substitute.” The GOP substitute, which, by the way, is fully paid for with spending cuts, lowers the deficit $68 billion (according to a revised CBO score), and doesn’t raise taxes a dime.
RPC Analyst Jon Lieber