GOP Pounces on Disappointing Job Numbers to Criticize Stimulus

President Obama today said the Labor Department's latest jobs report shows that the private sector job market is slowly but surely recovering from the recession, but Republicans insist the president's policies are, in fact, hindering private sector growth -- and will lead to Republican victories in the fall.

The Labor Department announced this morning that U.S. employers cut 125,000 jobs last month, in large part because the 225,000 temporary U.S. Census jobs came to an end. Private businesses, however, added 83,000 new jobs -- more than in May, but fewer than the number of private sector jobs created in March or April.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent, but that is attributed to people giving up looking for jobs.

"Much of what the Administration touts as a 'jobs recovery' has caused- and will continue to cause-- the deficit to soar," House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a statement. "As the administration continues to spend, our debt keeps piling up, preventing private sector job growth."

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) also took aim at the president's stimulus program.

"The writing is on the wall for President Obama's 'stimulus' policies and everyone - taxpayers, economists, and the rest of the world - sees it but him," Boehner said in a statement.

The GOP leader recently released a policy report called "Stuck on Stimulus," detailing the shortcomings of the Recovery Act. In the report's foreword, Boehner writes, "If you want to boost the economy and support private sector job creation, you don't go on a binge of taxing, spending and borrowing; you rein in spending, keep taxes low, and give small businesses the certainty they need to get back on their feet."

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele used the jobs report to criticize not only the stimulus, but also the administration's other policies, like health care reform.

"The simple fact is that the cumulative effect of this Administration's policies has yet to foster an economic climate capable of producing sustainable job growth," he said in a statement. "All businesses are seeing are higher taxes, higher interest rates, more regulation, and more uncertainty."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee compared the current unemployment numbers with those from 1994, suggesting the GOP takeover from that year could happen again.

"In the 1994 election cycle, unemployment actually dropped from 7.3 percent to 5.6 percent, yet the Democrats suffered enormous losses in both the House and Senate because voters had already made up their minds that they were unhappy with the direction of the country and even more unhappy with what they were seeing from Washington," NRSC spokesperson Brian Walsh wrote. "Fast forward 16 years later, unemployment now stands at 9.5 percent - almost four points higher than in 1994 -- as we move towards the fall elections."