“Unemployment Shouldn’t Be Rising
2 Years After Recession Ended;
America Can Do Better”

Obama Record: 2.5 Million Lost Jobs,
$3 Trillion in Debt

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, released the following statement today after the Labor Department announced that the national unemployment rate rose from 9.1% to 9.2% in June.  

“Today’s report is more evidence that President Obama’s ‘spend, borrow and bailout’ policies have clearly failed, and we need to lead America in a new direction.  To grow jobs in the private sector, we need to shrink the size of the public sector.  That means less government spending, less government borrowing, and less government regulation – especially in our energy sector where burdensome regulations are stifling domestic production and job growth.  House Republicans have a plan to get our economy moving again and create middle-class jobs.  Now we just need the President to work with us to implement it.” 

Since President Obama took office, 2.5 million Americans have lost their jobs while the national debt has surged by $3 trillion.  The national unemployment rate has been above 8% for 28 straight months – the longest streak since the Great Depression.  The average person’s stay on unemployment is more than twice as high than at any point in the past 50 years.

“Over three years into Barack Obama’s presidency, the national unemployment rate still continues to rise.  That’s unacceptable.  America can do better.”