Miller: GOP Leaders Standing on the Throat of the American Economy
WASHINGTON – Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democratic member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement on today’s jobs report from the Department of Labor.
“Job growth is always better than job losses, but today’s jobs report clearly shows we have more work to do to help get Americans back to work. The monthly jobs numbers might be enough for my Republican friends in Congress, but they’re not good enough for me and I know they’re not good enough for the majority of Americans struggling to finally break out of the last recession.
“While the private sector is obviously the engine of job growth, economists on the left and the right are in total agreement that there is more the Congress could do to help spur that growth. The only thing that stands in the way is obstruction in Congress. That obstruction is killing jobs. The fact is Republican leaders are standing on the throat of the American economy. Their blocking of bills from votes is not simply interesting political fodder for television commentators or newspaper columnists. Their actions are having real and painful consequences for our economy.
“There are several bills we could pass right now that would create millions of jobs over the next five years if Republicans in Washington would make their top priority helping our economy rather than undermining it in the hopes of winning more political power. We could pass the Water Resources Development Act, for example, a bipartisan bill that has won Senate approval. And we could pass comprehensive immigration reform, which won overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate. And we could reauthorize transportation projects, which is historically bipartisan. Each of these measures creates jobs and has bipartisan support in Congress and broad support from the American people, business and labor.
“We could finally take action and make this Congress noteworthy for what it does to help the country, rather than what this Congress is known for now – bitter dysfunction thanks to those intent on sabotaging every effort to help our economy take off.”
Next Article