The October report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing unemployment at 7.9% made clear, once again, that President Obama’s agenda of more regulation, higher taxes and bigger government has failed to create jobs. The American people deserve better than four years high unemployment and long-term joblessness.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor released the following statement on the national unemployment report for the month of October:

“The President’s policies are not working. We can do better. We can create opportunity and make life work again. We can expand markets, attract investment and make America competitive again. We can rise above the current challenges, but not with empty promises, rising deficits and trickle-down government. 7.9% must not be the new normal. People leaving the workforce is not a recovery. There is a better path forward.”

Over the past several months opinion pieces appearing in such places as The Washington Post, National Review, and The Wall Street Journal have talked about the emergence of an “Imperial Presidency.” While some may wish to simply chalk this up to partisan criticism of the incumbent President, even The New York Times in a recent A1 article examined “an increasingly deliberate pattern by the administration to circumvent lawmakers…” 

Less noticed, but perhaps even more important – especially to the over 20 million Americans currently out of work or underemployed – is the link between a breakdown in the rule of law and reduced economic growth and individual prosperity.

Property rights and rule of law are essential for the proper and efficient functioning of society and the economy. Clear, transparent, predictable rules that are applied without preference or prejudice allow individuals to invest, build businesses, and create jobs. When there is a breakdown in the rule of law, increased uncertainty leads to reduced investment and less growth.

It's been 144 days since the House passed the only plan to replace the sequester's arbitrary defense cuts. The President and Senate Democrats refuse to work with the House on any solution.

Now, with just over 90 days remaining before these crippling cuts go into effect, the White House is instructing defense contractors to not issue layoff warnings to the very Americans whose lives are most personally affected.

Ignoring the reality of these cuts will not make them go away.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor made the following statement:

The brave men and women who help defend our country deserve the respect and certainty to adequately prepare for their future. For an Administration that talks a lot about transparency, it is disappointing that they apparently think it is more important to protect their political interests than give hard working families any indication that they might in fact lose their job in 60 to 90 days due to inaction by the President and Senate Democrats.

The House passed H.Res. 786, Honoring the four United States public servants who died in Libya and condemning the attacks on United States diplomatic facilities in Libya, Egypt, and Yemen.

Majority Leader Cantor made the following remarks on the House Floor:

"We acknowledge and honor the personal sacrifice of the brave Americans who gave their lives in service to our nation. US Ambassador Chris Stevens, Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty tragically lost their lives far from home, in Benghazi, Libya, where they were promoting American interests and helping the Libyan people secure the hard-fought gains of their revolution. These heroes died upholding the liberty, democracy, and moderation we value as a nation. "

According to a new report from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, President Obama's decision to waive welfare work-requirements has more than doubled the number of able-bodied adults receiving food stamps.

Philip Klein reports in this morning's Washington Examiner:

...the 1996 welfare reform law included a separate rule encouraging able-bodied adults without dependents to work by limiting the amount of time they could receive food stamps. President Obama suspended that rule when he signed his economic stimulus legislation into law, and the number of these adults on food stamps doubled, from 1.9 million in 2008 to 3.9 million in 2010...

"CRS report: number of able-bodied adults on food stamps doubled after Obama suspended work requirement." Washington Examiner, 9/19/2012