Republicans: Barack Obama still not doing enough to boost economy
President Barack Obama is still doing too little to promote economic growth, Republicans said Friday even as they welcomed the good news in the latest jobs report. Republicans have slowly embraced the idea that the monthly jobs reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show an economy on the mend. Fridayâs report estimated that the economy created 257,000 jobs in January and revised Decemberâs figure to 329,000 new jobs â with the latter meaning that more jobs were created in 2014 than any year since 1999. Story Continued Below Even so, House Speaker John Boehner said, âmillions are still struggling and searching for a good job.â He said the economy needs a further boost, which could happen if Obama signs into law Republican-backed priorities like approving the Keystone XL pipeline and rolling back regulations. âIf the president is serious about helping the middle class, heâll reconsider his threat to veto these bills and work with us to get these things done,â the Ohio Republican said. And Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement that economic recovery is still âtoo fragile for far too many.â The jobs report put the unemployment rate at 5.7 percent â a slight uptick from December. The Obama administration heralded the report as a sign that the economy is on an upward trajectory. Obama said last week that Democrats need to be more aggressive in taking credit for job growth by trumpeting Obamacare and the stimulus as key factors. âAmerica is poised for another strong year,â Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in a blog post. âAnd so it is critical to avoid brinksmanship and unnecessary austerity, and instead to make investments in our future growth.â But Republicans pointed out that some areas of the economy havenât returned to their pre-recession levels. Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), the chairman-designate of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a statement that âunemployment remains unacceptably high.â Obama is set to travel to Coatsâ home state Friday to discuss the economy. âIt is welcome news that our economy added jobs at the start of the new year,â Coats said. âDespite this progress, full-time employment has yet to reach pre-recession levels and the amount of people participating in the workforce remains near 30-year lows.â