Seventh Months After The Stimulus - 'Where Are The Jobs?'

Press Release

Minnesota Congressman John Kline issued the following statement today after the U.S. Department of Labor reported a loss of 263,000 jobs in the month of September, increasing the nationalMinnesota Congressman John Kline issued the following statement today after the U.S. Department of Labor reported a loss of 263,000 jobs in the month of September, increasing the national unemployment rate to a 26-year high 9.8 percent:

"Today's jobs report prompts a very important question: Where are the jobs? Nearly seven months ago, Americans were asked to spend nearly a trillion dollars to finance the so-called stimulus, the Administration's risky scheme to expand the size of government in the hopes that it would spur economic recovery. Since then, approximately 3 million more Americans have lost their jobs, including tens of thousands of Minnesotans, and more spend each day worrying about the next round of pink slips. To say the stimulus has not worked is an understatement.

"Yet in the face of failed policies, majority leadership in Congress is pushing for more of the same. More government control over health care. New entitlement spending and federal meddling in our schools. A national energy tax that would overwhelm family budgets and cripple job-creating American businesses.

"I've called for pressing the ‘reset' button on health care and bringing both parties together to find commonsense solutions that will bring down health care costs, expand access to quality coverage, and keep medical decisions between patients and their doctors. With job losses continuing to mount, it's clear we need to press the ‘reset' button on majority leadership's failed economic schemes as well. I stand ready to develop pro-growth policies that recognize it is American enterprise and ingenuity -- and not the federal government -- that creates jobs."
unemployment rate to a 26-year high 9.8 percent:

"Today's jobs report prompts a very important question: Where are the jobs? Nearly seven months ago, Americans were asked to spend nearly a trillion dollars to finance the so-called stimulus, the Administration's risky scheme to expand the size of government in the hopes that it would spur economic recovery. Since then, approximately 3 million more Americans have lost their jobs, including tens of thousands of Minnesotans, and more spend each day worrying about the next round of pink slips. To say the stimulus has not worked is an understatement.

"Yet in the face of failed policies, majority leadership in Congress is pushing for more of the same. More government control over health care. New entitlement spending and federal meddling in our schools. A national energy tax that would overwhelm family budgets and cripple job-creating American businesses.

"I've called for pressing the ‘reset' button on health care and bringing both parties together to find commonsense solutions that will bring down health care costs, expand access to quality coverage, and keep medical decisions between patients and their doctors. With job losses continuing to mount, it's clear we need to press the ‘reset' button on majority leadership's failed economic schemes as well. I stand ready to develop pro-growth policies that recognize it is American enterprise and ingenuity -- and not the federal government -- that creates jobs."

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