Labor Force Participation

Floor Speech

Mr. GRAVES of Georgia. Madam Speaker, in 2009, the Obama administration said that unemployment would never reach 8 percent if the stimulus was approved. Well, it was. And 3 years later and $1.2 trillion in spending, unemployment has remained above 8 percent for 40 consecutive months, the longest span since the Great Depression. Even more alarming is that the 8 percent doesn't illustrate how grim the situation really is.

More than 500,000 more Americans are out of work today than they were when President Obama took office in 2009, and the percentage of Americans working is at a 30-year low. Unemployment would be even higher if it were not for the grit and the resolve of the American people themselves. With these numbers, it's clear that President Obama's agenda has failed, and it's making the economy worse.

House Republicans have a plan. They have a plan for America's job creators to help turn this economy around. It's time for the President and it's time for the Senate Democrats to stop blocking jobs for Americans and to join us in helping get Americans back to work.

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