Jobs and the Economy

Unemployment Claims Increase Dramatically: According to the Department of Labor, the number of new Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims jumped dramatically in the week ending July 14, reaching its highest level since February 2, 2012.  About 386,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the week ended July 14, up 34,000 from the previous week. According to economists, this news dampens hopes of a significant drop in the unemployment rate in July.  “Based on early claims data it isn't likely that the unemployment rate - currently at 8.2% - will decline in July,” said Ellen Zentner, a senior U.S. economist for the financial services group Nomura.

Spending

Federal Government Set to Spend 50% More than it Collects in 2012: Despite successful House Republican efforts to reduce discretionary spending for two consecutive years for the first time since World War II, growing entitlement spending and the faltering Obama economy are still driving record federal deficits. According to CBO, the government’s FY 2012 deficit topped $900 billion by the end of June and is on pace to reach $1.17 trillion before the year is over. According to CBO’s analysis, the federal government will bower 48 percent more money than it collects in 2012.

Medicare

President’s Healthcare Law puts Medicare on “Highly Uncertain” Cost Path: A May 2012 memo from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) Office of the Actuary discussed the projected payment rates for physician services, currently scheduled to be reduced by 31 percent in 2013 under President Obama’s federal takeover of healthcare law.  The memo calls the projections “clearly unrealistic with respect to physician expenditures and, in addition, may well understate expenditures for most other categories of health care providers,” concluding: “actual Medicare expenditures are likely to exceed the projections shown in the 2012 Trustees Report for current law, possibly by considerable amounts.”  This is especially troubling in light of the Congressional Budget Office’s latest estimate that Democrats’ healthcare law is expected to cost the federal government $1.76 trillion over the next ten years.

The Republican Plan for Job Creation and Growth

House Republicans have a plan to restore confidence and certainty to the economy and create jobs.  For more information on the House Republican Growth Plan, click here: http://www.gop.gov/indepth/jobs.