Washington, D.C. , Oct 8 - House Small Business Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) has released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the economy shed 95,000 jobs in September:

“For seventeen consecutive months, Americans have been faced with unemployment rates of above nine percent. This is unacceptable, and sadly, there is no end in sight. When Majority Leaders chose to skip town last week, they also skipped out on their responsibility to protect struggling families and small businesses from a $3.8 trillion tax hike scheduled to take effect in less than 100 days. 

“All of my Republican colleagues, dozens of top economists and 47 House Democrats agree: our economy is too fragile to risk raising taxes.  After a long and tumultuous recession, the American people deserve a break – they deserve some certainty.   Congress must take immediate action to stop this tax hike and put our nation on track for a stable, lasting recovery.”