Lynn Westmoreland

Westmoreland Reacts to July Job Numbers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Department of Labor announced the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent in the month of July.  While 163,000 jobs were added to the economy, that was not enough to stave off the continued rise in unemployment.  This is the second straight month unemployment has risen.  Below is Congressman Westmoreland’s statement.

“While any amount of job growth is better than none, today’s job numbers are certainly disappointing.  Especially since the American people were promised by the president that if his $800 billion stimulus plan was passed, the unemployment rate would not go above 8 percent.  Well, it’s three and a half years later and unemployment has remained at or above 8 percent since Congressional Democrats passed the president’s stimulus plan – for 42 consecutive months.  There are 13 million Americans currently unemployed.  And the Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates millions more are underemployed or have simply given up looking for work.  If you include them, the real unemployment rate is much closer to 15 percent.

“And what is President Obama’s latest plan for our economy?  Higher taxes on America’s job creators that some estimates expect will cost more than 700,000 Americans their job.  

“Like President Lincoln’s famous quote says, ‘You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.’  Well, you aren’t fooling anyone again Mr. President.  Those lofty promises of ‘hope’ and ‘change’ have fallen completely flat and a well-timed campaign speech just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

“The president’s economic policies have failed.  I know it.  The American people know it.  Even some members of his own party admit it.  Yet President Obama refuses to accept it.  Instead, he continues to push his big government economic policies of higher spending, higher debt, and higher taxes.  

“So today’s announcement makes one thing very clear: the only way we are going to see a change in unemployment is when we see a change at the White House,” stated Westmoreland.