On the recordNovember 2, 2011
I just left a meeting with President Obama at the White House, and we discussed the jobs bill that is pending before the Senate. It is a bill which the President put together and presented to Congress almost 2 months ago. He invited the Republicans at that time to come forward with their ideas, and hoped that we could come up with a bipartisan approach to dealing with the 9-percent-plus unemployment in our country and the 14 million people out of work, not to mention another 10 million who are underemployed and could do better with a better job. We had a briefing this morning from an economist from labor and business who talked about some of the realities facing America today, and they are daunting: that one out of five men in this country is out of work; that we have seen, since 1969, a 28-percent decline in the purchasing power of working families in America; that we are seeing growth rates which are at least anemic and maybe even worse in terms of the future of our economy. There are those who are criticizing the President and saying his approach is all wrong. But what those who criticize him offer is nothing. Nothing. There is no Republican plan for creating jobs in this country. It is a litany of complaints that they have had about the Federal Government for decades. For example, they argue there are too many rules and regulations, and that is what is impeding job growth.…





