WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement today regarding the Department of Labor’s unemployment report for September 2012:

“While there is positive news in today’s report, job creation is far too slow and the unemployment rate is far too high. Administration officials said unemployment would be as low as 5.6 percent by now if Congress passed their ‘stimulus’ spending bill – instead, after four years of spending, taxing, and red tape, millions of Americans remain jobless, underemployed, or have simply given up looking for work. Wages are stagnant. Gas prices and health care costs are up. And economic growth is even lower today than in 2010 when the president said the ‘fiscal cliff’ tax hikes he now demands would mean ‘smaller paychecks’ and ‘fewer jobs.’

“We know what we need to do to get our economy moving. The House passed a bipartisan bill to stop all of the president’s tax hikes which, according to Ernst & Young, would destroy more than 700,000 jobs. We’ve passed dozens of jobs bills removing policies that hurt small businesses, begun the process of fixing our tax code to help bring jobs home, and outlined plans to reduce spending and save Medicare. Unfortunately, these bills remain blocked by Senate Democrats and a president who simply isn’t leading.

“Middle class families deserve better than perpetually high unemployment. We can strengthen our economy and help get the American people back to work – but it’s going to take leadership from the White House. And today, we’re just not seeing any.”

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