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 economy didn’t add a single net job last month.

“Even though it’s been more than two years since the recession officially ended, our economy continues to be weighed down by too much government.  If we want to grow jobs in the private sector, we need to shrink the size of the public sector.  We need less government spending, less borrowing, and less regulation.  House Republicans have a plan to get our economy moving again.  We’ve already passed fourteen jobs bills this year. The Senate has rejected all but one of them.  We’ve also laid out a bold legislative agenda for the fall.  I encourage the President and the Senate to work with us and get America back to work.”

The national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent.  It’s been above 8 percent for 30 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.