Republican and Democratic leaders issued dueling statements in response to a weak jobs report released on Friday.
Republicans blame government jobless pay, while Democrats say more money is needed to allow people to return to work.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who is eyeing the speaker’s gavel if the GOP can win back the majority next year, blamed the disappointing figures on Democratic policies on “Bidenomics,” which he said “is bad for America.”
McCarthy said jobs are remaining unfilled thanks to the most recent federal COVID-19 aid package that included $300 in weekly unemployment benefits that don’t expire until September. No Republicans voted for the $1.9 trillion measure when it passed in March.
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“As we emerge from the virus, our economy should be booming, but today’s lackluster jobs report shows President Biden’s policies have stalled our recovery,” McCarthy declared on Twitter. “Washington needs to stop paying people NOT to work.”
Employers added 559,000 jobs in May, far below the 650,000 jobs that economists had predicted.
Economists are blaming the additional $300 in weekly jobless benefits, which they say are encouraging people to remain home rather than return to work.
Republicans are eager to blame Democrats and the March stimulus bill they passed without any GOP support.
“The biggest obstacle to getting our economy back on track is Democrats’ wasteful stimulus bill,” Mike Berg, spokesman for the House GOP campaign arm, said Friday.
But Democrats say more government support is needed to make it possible for people to return to the workforce.
In a statement issued Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the stimulus bill “is working” to help the economy recover from the pandemic.
The California Democrat said Congress must now pass a massive, two-part infrastructure measure that would fund free, universal preschool and provide hundreds of billions of dollars for child care and elder care.
“We can only fully recover from this crisis by investing in working families with the support they need to have children learning, parents earning,” Pelosi said in a statement.
President Joe Biden’s infrastructure measure, she said, would also create “millions of good-paying union jobs.”
Pelosi said the jobs report is positive, not negative, despite missing the mark by nearly 100,000 jobs.
For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020, the jobless rate fell below 6%.
“The May jobs report is further strong evidence that, under President Biden, our nation is defeating the pandemic and economic crisis,” Pelosi said. “Nearly 300 million vaccines have been administered, wages are rising and, each month, an average of well over half a million jobs have been created: more jobs created than in the beginning of any modern presidency.”
Biden on Friday is scheduled to hold a new round of infrastructure talks with a top Senate Republican.
Senate Republicans are pitching a $928 billion measure that funds roads, bridges, waterways, and broadband. It’s far narrower and less costly than Biden’s $1.7 trillion proposal and leaves out the child care and elder care funding.
Pelosi’s Friday statement sends another signal that Democrats may not be willing to compromise on a narrower deal, even if Biden supports it.
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“Democrats are committed to bold action to advance prosperity, opportunity and justice in America and hope that Republicans will recognize the urgency of this mission,” Pelosi said.
