January 4, 2008

Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada released following statement today in response to the Labor Department’s report that the nation’s unemployment rate has reached a two-year high of 5 percent:

“On the heels of record oil prices and a devastating housing crisis, today’s news that unemployment has hit a two-year high of 5 percent is just the latest casualty of the Bush Administration’s failed economic policies. The same President who lectures about fiscal responsibility has a shameful history of losing American jobs, turning record surpluses into record deficits and increasing the national debt by $3 trillion.

“While President Bush’s corporate friends continue to rake in record profits, the middle class faces declining wages and rising prices for everything from health care to gas to college tuition. Democrats believe it is long past time to restore fiscal discipline, stop spending billions on another country’s civil war and focus on critical needs here at home. That is why we worked in the past year to raise the minimum wage, cut taxes for the middle class and passed a fiscally responsible budget.

“President Bush continues to look at his failed policies through rose-colored glasses, but the rest of the nation sees them for what they are. The American people expect their President to give them an honest and realistic assessment, and to work with Congress – rather than against it – to help make our nation stronger.”