Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 8.9% in April, the highest level in 26 years, as 539,000 more people lost work in the month.

“Is this the urgent recovery the President had in mind when he borrowed a trillion dollars from our grandkids?” said Congressman Price. “Every passing week is another demonstration that big-government borrowing and spending is an unproductive means of stimulating the economy. As more Americans struggle to pay the bills, the President’s misguided ‘stimulus’ package remains months and years away from being paid out.

“The President must recognize that it is our people, not our government, that provide prosperity in America. By renewing a faith in the potential of empowered Americans, we can return to the flourishing nation we know we can be. There is no greater spark for economic growth than letting people keep more of the money that they work so hard to earn. As the President continues his march toward a more heavy-handed Washington, I call on him to reflect upon what makes this nation great: our ingenuity, perseverance, and optimism. Our nation will recover in due time, but it will be because of these American attributes, not the President’s trillion dollar black hole.”