Dear Friend,

The release of the October jobs report on Friday brought more disappointing news as the unemployment rate increased to 7.9 percent.  Instead of making progress, we still have 12.2 million Americans looking for work with many millions more who have dropped out of the workforce or are working part time. Below you will find more information on jobs and unemployment.

Last week, I signed onto a letter Rep. Mike Kelly sent to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton requesting answers to questions regarding the events leading up to and following the September 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi.  You will find more information regarding the letter, as well as a link to read the full letter, in this newsletter.

Please share this information with your friends by forwarding this email or using the "Tell a Friend" form in the right sidebar.  I hope you will also follow me at ellmers.house.gov and on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Seeking Answers to the Attack in Benghazi

I joined Representative Mike Kelly and 52 members of the House in a letter to President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding answers to questions regarding the events leading up to and following the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. The letter asks the following:

• Why did administration officials deny repeated requests for stronger security measures from U.S. personnel on the ground in Libya, especially in light of the escalating violence leading up to the September 11 attack?
   
• Why did the administration withdraw elite Special Forces units from the Benghazi compound and seek to replace them with poorly paid local Libyan contractors, even after the compound had been bombed twice?
   
• Why did the administration pursue what U.S. personnel on the ground described as a “cookie cutter” approach to security in Libya and impose an “artificial time table” towards “normalization” that ignored the dangerous facts on the ground?

Click on the image below to read the full letter:

Another Disappointing Jobs Report

The October jobs report released last week shows an increase in the unemployment rate to 7.9 percent. This is disappointing news for the over 12 million Americans looking for work and it is just not good enough. After spending trillions of dollars on a failed stimulus plan, government takeover of our healthcare system, and industry bailouts, we have a $16 trillion national debt, the highest poverty rate since 1993, a 45% increase in the number of Americans on food stamps, and more than 12 million unemployed Americans every month President Obama has been in office.

In addition to those looking for work and unable to find it, millions more Americans have given up and dropped out of the workforce. After suffering four years of unemployment rates at or around 8 percent, Americans need relief. In the House, we have passed over 30 bills to promote job creation, but the majority of these bills have been blocked by the Democrat-controlled Senate.  You can track those bills on this page of my website.  Below are some keys facts on jobs and unemployment.

1. Almost 4 Million Fewer Jobs than Projected: In January 2009, the Obama Administration forecast there would be 137.6 million jobs in December 2010.  Instead there were 130.3 million jobs in December 2010.  Even 22 months later in October 2012, there were just 133.8 million jobs – 3.8 million fewer than the Administration’s forecast for late 2010.

2. Slowest Jobs Recovery Ever: This is the only “recovery” since World War II (when official jobs data began) when jobs lost in the recession had not been recovered by this point.

3. Less Full Time Work: Since January 2009, the number of full-time employees has fallen by 371,000 while part-time employment has grown by over 1.5 million.  This means part-time workers account for all of the net employment growth in the Obama years – the opposite of what Democrats predicted when they said their stimulus plan was “likely to move many workers from part-time to full-time work.”

4. Manufacturing Jobs Down: Since January 2009, 586,000 manufacturing jobs have been eliminated, the opposite of the Administration’s projected increase of 408,000 manufacturing jobs due to their trillion-dollar stimulus.

5. Almost Seven Times More New Dropouts than New Employees: During the Obama Administration, the number of people not in the labor force has grown by 7.8 million while total employment has grown by 1.2 million.  This means that during the Obama years new workforce dropouts have outnumbered new employees by almost 7 to 1.

6. Far Higher Unemployment Rate than Projected: October’s 7.9% unemployment rate remains far above the 5.4% rate the Administration predicted for this month in their January 2009 report on the projected effects of stimulus.  Democrats actually predicted unemployment would peak at the current 7.9% rate in July 2009 – over three years ago.

7. Real Unemployment Is Almost 11%: If the unemployment rate included the “invisible unemployed” (discouraged workers who have dropped out or never joined the workforce), the October 2012 unemployment rate would be 10.9%.

8. More Unemployed Now than When Economy Was in “Free-Fall”: In October 2012, there were 12.3 million officially unemployed workers.  That’s 209,000 more than when President Obama took office in January 2009 – when the Administration said “we were in economic free-fall.”  

9. Over Two Million More Long-Term Unemployed: In October 2012, there were 5.0 million long-term unemployed (that is, for over six months) – 2.3 million more than when President Obama took office in January 2009.

10. Economic Misery up 80%: The “Obama Misery Index” shows that unemployment and debt have risen by a combined 80% since the start of the Obama Administration.