By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Friday United States House of Representatives member Spencer Bachus (R) from Vestavia issued a written statement following the release of new job numbers showing that job creation has virtually ground to a halt.
Congressman Bachus said, “The Administration’s policies are just not working. This month marks the third anniversary of what was technically the end of the recession. But for millions of Americans who are still out of work, it’s clear the recession never really ended at all.”
Representative Bachus said, “The President promised us that his stimulus plan, his health care plan and his Dodd-Frank regulations would strengthen our economy. But what Americans have gotten instead is the burden of record debt and deficits, the threat of higher taxes, and the weakest economic recovery on record. The hostility and open warfare against free enterprise has to stop, and the President has got to start working with us to fix the economy.”
Rep. Bachus is the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the regulatory agencies which the federal government uses to regulate the economy. Rep. Bachus has been very critical of the Presidents handling of the economy and particularly the new regulatory burden that the Dodd-Frank Act places on business. The President’s landmark legislation was passed in 2010 when Rep. Barney Frank (D) was Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and Democrats held strong majorities in both Houses of Congress. Public dissatisfaction with Democratic policies gave the Republicans control of the House of Representatives in 2010, but the Democrats retained control of the U.S. Senate
The bad economic data showed the US had created only 69,000 new jobs in April and unemployment had risen for the first time in a year to 8.2 percent. Stocks plummeted worldwide on the bad news. In the U.S. all the gains in stock prices for the year were wiped out by the close of trading on Friday.
President Barack H. Obama in his weekly address, tried to shift the blame to the Congress. He attacked Congress for only passing a few parts of a planned jobs bill last year, rather than the whole package.
President Obama said, “There’s no excuse for that. Not when so many people are still looking for work, not when so many people are struggling to pay the bills.” “”My message to Congress is, let’s get to work. … It’s not lost on anybody … that this is an election year. But we’ve got responsibilities that are bigger than an election.”
President Obama acknowledged that the U.S. economy was struggling and pinned the blame on fallout from the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis and high gas prices which have hit U.S. consumer confidence. Pres. Obama said, “The economy is growing again, but it is not growing fast enough. Our businesses have created almost 4.3 million new jobs over the past 27 months, but as we learned in this week’s jobs report, we’re not creating them fast enough.”
Some economists warn that the U.S. could be inching towards a second recession.
Congressman Bachus represents Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District. The Sixth District includes all or parts of Blount, Jefferson, Chilton, Shelby, Bibb, and Coosa Counties. Rep. Bachus is seeking an 11th term in the House of Representatives. He is facing a challenge from retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Penny Huggins Bailey (D) from Leeds in the November 6th General Election.
