Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 6, 2009 - Record Unemployment Rate 10.2% - Pelosi Ignores Americans

The Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 3072, the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (Milcon-VA) appropriations bill. No votes are scheduled in the Senate today. Yesterday, the Senate voted 71-28 to pass the fiscal year 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, H.R. 2847. Prior to final passage, the Senate rejected several GOP amendments to the bill. The Senate voted 54-45 to kill an amendment from Sens. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Jim Webb (D-VA) which would have prohibited funding to try 9/11 co-conspirators being held in Guantanamo Bay in civilian courts in the U.S. So the Democrats want to give foreign terrorists the right to trial in civilian courts. Also voted down were amendments from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) which would have cut funding for political science from the National Science Foundation and moved $5 million for renovating the Commerce Department building to funding its Office of Inspector General.

Phil Kerpen, Americans for Prosperity reports that "yesterday, more than 20,000 Americans from all across the nation traveled to Washington to demand real reform that expands choice and puts patients first." Newt Gingrich, American Solutions is reporting that "House Speaker Pelosi will try to ram her 1,990 page government health care bill this weekend." Pelois is moving forward not in spite of the fact that a majority of Americans oppose her bill and in total lack of concern regarding the national tragedy at Ft. Hood, Texas yesterday.

This morning, President Obama acknowledged the jump in unemployment rates.  He also expressed his sympathy to the soldiers and their families who lost their life yesterday at Ft. Hood, Texas and announced flags will be at half mast through Nov.11th.

Record Unemployment Rate: The AP reports today, “The unemployed rate jumped to 10.2 percent last month, the highest since April 1983, from 9.8 percent in September, the Labor Department said Friday. The economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs, more than economists had expected.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said this morning: “I know the administration shares our goals of job creation and economic growth. But more debt, more spending, higher taxes and growing the size of government clearly has not worked—particularly in a time of double-digit unemployment.”

Once again, it’s worth looking at the predictions and promises made by the Obama administration when it was pushing to pass its massive $787 billion economic stimulus package in an attempt to prevent the recession from getting worse. Back in February, President Obama declared, “[I]f we don't act immediately, millions of more jobs will be lost. The national unemployment rates will approach double digits not just here in [Indiana], all across the country.” And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on CBS’ Face the Nation, “[T]he economic team believes that this bill will help us stay away from those double-digit economic unemployment numbers.” A month before those statements, administration economic advisers Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein released a report saying that if Congress passed the administration’s stimulus plan, unemployment would not exceed 8%.

Yet the country now faces 10.2% unemployment, with nearly 3.5 million jobs lost since February. And still the administration is trying to claim the stimulus was a success, mostly by trying to point to jobs it says have been “saved or created.” But reports over the past two weeks have shown that these numbers have been unreliable or inflated. And this week, the AP reports that “The inflated job count is at least partly the product of the administration instructing local community agencies that received money to count the raises as jobs saved.” In Texas, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Virginia, and elsewhere, reports have shown that stimulus money was used for pay raises but reported by the administration as saved jobs.

As Sen. McConnell said this summer, “The president said rush and spend it; pass it, we'll hold unemployment to 8% . . . . By any measurable index, the stimulus package has been a failure.” Now we have noted that the Obama administration has demonstrated the old adage: "statistics never lie but liars use statistics."

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