Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) released the following statement after the Department of Labor issued the September unemployment report:

“Today’s unemployment report offers encouraging news for Americans across this country, but the people of Central and Southside Virginia, facing double-digit unemployment, are still waiting for the robust recovery that was promised four years ago by this President. As more and more Americans stop looking for work, it is clear that our country is headed in the wrong direction. The President’s solution of higher taxes to sustain more spending will only serve to inhibit the minimal growth we have seen over this past month.

“It is time to change course. With so many 5th District Virginians out of work due to the President’s failed policies, House Republicans have been focused over the past two years on taking this country in a different direction by enacting a commonsense regulatory structure, keeping taxes low, reducing prices at the pumps, and working towards a balanced budget. The only way we are going to grow our economy is by removing the federal government as a barrier to job creation and making it easier for our small businesses and family farmers to create the jobs we need – and it is due time that those in the Senate and the White House step up to the plate.”