Associated Press/Evan Vucci
- Biden slammed “Republican obstructionism” Friday and touted an economic recovery despite a dismal December jobs report.
- He criticized the GOP voting against his stimulus plan that helped create millions of jobs.
- Still, Republicans and Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin remain concerned about inflation.
Although December’s jobs report badly missed expectations, President Joe Biden still touted the country’s economic recovery — and called out Republicans for standing in the way of that progress.
Following the release of Bureau of Labor Statistics data that found the US added just 199,000 jobs to the economy last month, Biden on Friday said during remarks that the economy over the past year has shown significant growth overall.
He cited the Great Resignation, in which workers are leaving their jobs for better conditions, as a sign that things are getting better for Americans.
Biden dismissed Republican attacks of his handling of the economic recovery as “malarkey’,’ arguing that addressing inflation is a top priority for him. He also took the GOP to task for uniformly opposing the $1.9 trillion stimulus law that Democrats passed on their own last year, which he credited with jumpstarting the economy and adding millions of jobs, with the White House estimating 4 million in 2021.
“They want to talk down the recovery because they voted against the legislation that made it happen,” Biden said. “My focus is on keeping this recovery strong and durable, notwithstanding Republican obstructionism,” he added.
“I refuse to let them stand in the way of recovery.”
He noted that he has a “three-part plan” to ensure economic recovery continues: fixing the supply-chain crisis, protecting consumers and promoting competition, and lowering costs for food.
Biden also touted the $2 trillion Build Back Better plan, now stalled out in the 50-50 Senate. Republicans are lined up against it, prompting Senate Democrats to circumvent them using a party-line process known as reconciliation.
That requires unanimous support within their own ranks, yet they don’t have it due to opposition to the sprawling package from Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Getting it across the finish line would likely require further spending cuts to satisfy Manchin’s fiscal concerns about exploding the national debt, which many Democrats argue is unfounded.
Republicans lobbed attacks on Biden after the lackluster jobs report.
“Another disappointing jobs report proves President Biden bungled the economy in 2021,” Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement.
But some experts said there was a flipside to the figures.
“We have unemployment rates and labor force participation equivalent to the 8th year of the last expansion,” Kathryn Anne Edwards, an economist at the Rand Corporation, told Insider. “Where we are now would have been a luxury in the last recession.”
The jobs report could also hint the US is in an economic boom. As Insider reported, the government’s household survey reflected 651,000 jobs added, likely due to pandemic factors like working from home.
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