Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) said today the recovery of the American economy continues with the reported addition of 64,000 jobs in the private sector. "The private sector has now added jobs for nine months in a row," he said, "after 22 consecutive months of job losses."

“When President Obama took office and began to work with Congress, we had an economy barreling towards depression and job losses measured in the hundreds of thousands per month.  We created more jobs in a recession under President Obama than had been created in all eight years of the Bush Administration.  We brought the economy back from the brink of depression and prevented a worldwide collapse of the banking industry.  This unemployment rate is still too high, but if not for the Recovery Act and other actions, many thousands more of American families would still be struggling to buy food and pay rent and mortgages.

“Many people thought the Recovery Act needed to be larger, but those necessary aggressive measures were blocked by Senate Republicans, leading to a smaller stimulus, which has perhaps tempered our recovery.  In addition, Senate Republicans blocked the small business jobs bill for months, voting against eight new tax cuts for small businesses, zero capital gains for small business investments, and incentives to hire.  Instead of working with Democrats to help the American worker, they filibustered vital aid to better their prospects in a callous political play to return to power and revive the failed Bush policies.

“It took nearly a decade to create this mess, and the economy has come a long way since the end of the Bush Administration.  It will take more time to fully repair the damage but we are moving in the right direction.  The Recovery Act has created over three million jobs, and despite some setbacks, has been successful.  And it will continue to help fuel the recovery as one-third of it still remains to be injected back into the economy. 

“These are serious times, and they require action not gamesmanship.  I will continue to work to pass legislation to create jobs and provide businesses with the resources they need to help get America back to work.”

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