Source: Ways and Means staff calculations, using Department of Labor and Department of Treasury data.     ###      Read more

Washington, DC – According to today’s jobs report, another 11,000 jobs were eliminated in November as the unemployment rate was 10%.  While these data may indicate that the worst of the jobs losses may be behind us, there is little indication that strong job growth is coming soon.  Yet at yesterday’s White House jobs summit, President Obama said “we've seen a significant turnaround in… Read more

We tend to think the White House's forays into media criticism are the sincerest form of flattery, so we're glad to join the ranks of Politico and Fox News as a target. In a White House blog post Tuesday, Obama economic adviser Jared Bernstein writes that "somebody over at the Wall St. Journal's editorial page has a whole lot of explaining to do" about our criticisms of the $787 billion… Read more

1. "Jump-Start" Job Creation 2. When "Jump-Starting" Doesn't Work,Try "Accelerating" Job Creation 3. When "Accelerating" Doesn't Work, Try "Jump-Starting" Again   Nearly 10 months after signing his $787 billion stimulus bill into law, President Obama will host a Stimulus II Jobs Summit tomorrow.  According to the Chair of his Council of Economic Advisors, the purpose is to “jump-start… Read more

Washington, DC – In reaction to the unemployment claims data released today, Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) noted that these statistics are “a painful reminder that the Democrats’ stimulus bill has failed to create jobs.” “Unemployment rates and claims are not just statistics; they represent real Americans who are no longer receiving a paycheck to provide for themselves… Read more

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. Republicans are all for promoting charitable giving to help those in need.  Private charity is the most effective and compassionate form of aid.  We all welcome the chance to promote more people helping one another, and look forward to hearing proposals to that effect.  As this hearing will review, this system of private charity is… Read more

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in a hearing this morning on Capitol Hill, said “If you look at any measure of the strength and stability and health of the American economy…it is substantially stronger today than when the President of the United States took office.”  That will come as a surprise to the 4.1 million Americans who have been added to the unemployment rolls since the… Read more

During the 2006 campaign, then-House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi unabashedly stated that, “Democrats are proposing a New Direction for America.”  As the table below shows, it turned out to be the wrong direction for American workers and families.   [i] Total non-farm employment in January 2007 and October 2009. http://www.bls.gov/data/#employment. [ii] Number of unemployed in… Read more

Due a sharp rise in the number of unemployed, reflected in the increase in the U.S. unemployment rate to 10.2%, the Obama Misery Index (OMI) continued its upward trend in October. The OMI measures the combined change in the public debt and unemployment since President Obama was inaugurated. Since January 21, 2009, the number of unemployed Americans and the U.S. public debt have soared by… Read more

CAMP: “Unfortunately, Mr. Vice President, your prediction that we had ‘hit bottom’ missed the mark.” Washington, DC – The official jobs data release today shows the unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent as 190,000 more jobs were eliminated last month.  Since Democrats’ failed stimulus law took effect in February 2009, a total of 2.8 million jobs have been eliminated.  This, however,… Read more