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Press Releases

WASHINGTON – In the wake of the latest disappointing jobs report, U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) took to the Senate floor today to call for President Obama and Congress to put aside election year politicking and help put Americans back to work.

Boozman said the May jobs report shows that President Obama’s previous economic stimulus efforts did not work and called for a new approach.

“When the President pushed through his massive stimulus package in 2009, he claimed unemployment would be below six percent today.  With a national unemployment rate of 8.2 percent, we are not even close to six percent, much less below it,” Boozman said.  “The President met the report with a call for another round of stimulus spending.  We tried that.  It didn’t work.  More of the same will not work either.” 

The report released last Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that employers created just 69,000 net jobs, driving the national unemployment rate up to 8.2 percent during the month of May.  Revisions also showed that employers created 49,000 fewer jobs than originally estimated in March and April.

In light of this dismal report, Boozman renewed his call for a market-based approach that includes reforming the tax code, cutting regulatory red tape and establishing a domestic energy policy in an effort to revive the economy.

“Washington has to change course.  My colleagues and I have a better path to a healthy economy that restores economic security and opportunity.  Our market-based reforms are focused on creating a healthier environment for businesses to hire and expand,” Boozman said. “All we are saying is we tried the President’s way and it hasn’t worked.  Let’s try our market-based approach.”

Boozman encouraged his colleagues to not to let election season push them away from addressing the jobs crisis.

“Ever since the numbers were released, all the media has been talking about is what the report means in terms of the Presidential election. This in turn, has Washington digging in deeper to its respective trenches,” Boozman said. “That angle of the story misses the most important part: this about more than numbers, more than a report, more than a political talking point—its real people.  All of whom are looking to Washington for help.”