Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the administration’s need to focus on job creation measures:

“If anybody had any doubts that Washington Democrats wanted to see the unemployment insurance bill fail – well, I think those doubts were erased yesterday.

“It’s just the latest example of Senate Democrats putting politics over policy. And in this case, it’s doubly tragic, because this time, they’re putting politics over struggling families who deserve some certainty from Congress.

“Look: It’s no secret that Democrats plan to spend the year exploiting folks who are still struggling in this economy for political gain. They’ve been telling reporters that for weeks. But that doesn’t make it any less disturbing. It’s still wrong.

“I’d probably want to be talking about something other than Obamacare too if I’d voted for it. But to create a conflict where the possibility for agreement was so close, while more than a million people are stuck in the middle, is just outrageous.

“And here’s the larger issue.

“Here we are, in the sixth year of this administration and we’re still talking about emergency unemployment benefits. After all the stimulus bills and all the other big-government solutions that we were told would help the little guy, we’re still looking at record long-term unemployment. We’re still looking at hundreds of thousands of able-bodied men and women basically giving up on finding work in this economy last month alone. One report I saw even suggests that about half of our nation’s counties have yet to return to their pre-recession economic output.

“Bottom line: The Obama economy just isn’t working for middle-class Americans.

“Democrats tell us again and again that their policies will help people who are struggling, and yet we always seem to end up in the same situation: debating whether or not to provide more emergency help instead of talking about how to provide a long-term solution and a stable economy that doesn’t require permanent life-support from Washington.

“So what’s needed here is a fundamental course correction.

“What’s needed is for our colleagues to finally acknowledge what’s failed, and then actually work with us on the underlying problems.

“That’s what Republicans are saying in this debate. What we’re saying is, how about we actually try to create jobs?

“That will be the President’s challenge today when he speaks in North Carolina. We hear he might lay out some ideas to get the private sector moving again. If that’s the case, then maybe he’ll be taking a step in the right direction – a step away from the big-government policies that have failed so many Americans for so many years.

“Because if he’s truly serious about getting the economy back on track and creating jobs, he’ll do more than just talk about job creation or bipartisanship today – he’ll actually work with us on real bipartisan solutions to get there.

“And there are some simple ways he can show he means it.

“The Republican-controlled House has sent over a number of bills that would give a boost to jobs and the economy. A good start would be for the President to lean on the Democrats who run the Senate to take those up for immediate consideration. He could acknowledge the real pain that Obamacare is inflicting on middle-class families, then work with us to start over with real bipartisan reforms that actually lower costs and won’t hurt the economy the way Obamacare does.

“He could call for true, bipartisan tax reform. He could announce construction of the Keystone Pipeline, which would help create thousands of American jobs right away. And he could actually deliver on one of the brightest spots of his economic agenda: trade. That means, instead of allowing the U.S. to lag behind our trading partners, the President could find a way to bring his party on board with a bipartisan bill introduced last week that would get the administration back in the game of helping American workers with increased exports.

“These are just a few of the many areas where we could work together to get some good things done for the American people.

“So I hope he’ll be serious in his speech today. I hope he’ll focus on actually getting the job done, instead of just providing another distraction from the pain of Obamacare and the Obama economy.

“Because if this devolves into just another political exercise that’s focused more on making a point than making a real difference in the lives of people who are struggling – well, that won’t help middle-class families get back on their feet. That won’t help college graduates find full-time work. And all it would do is to continue a cycle of economic pain that the President needs to work with Republicans to stop.”