June Job Numbers

JUNE JOBS NUMBERS -- (House of Representatives - July 07, 2004)

(Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. PALLONE. Last month, President Bush presided over an economy that created only 112,000 jobs, but we have to create 150,000 jobs just to keep up with population increases.

One would think this disappointing news would concern President Bush. Instead, Bush embraced the news, describing it as "steady growth." The President also had the audacity to say our economy does not need "boom or bust-type growth."

When is President Bush going to realize that our economy desperately needs a boom; that the failed policies he has been touting over the last 3 years are not creating enough jobs to put millions of Americans back to work; that today's economy is benefiting the wealthiest Americans to the detriment of the middle class?

The economic record of both President Bush and congressional Republicans is an utter failure, and the President's statements show that he is also clearly out of touch with the economic realities that middle-class Americans presently face. Perhaps President Bush has been spending too much time hanging out with his wealthy friends to realize that middle-class Americans are struggling to make ends meet.