With Unemployment Expected to Climb for the Next Year, New Hampshire Voters are Asking Shea-Porter: Where Are the Jobs?
Washington- The Washington Post is reporting today that Democrats who supported the President’s so-called “stimulus” package – such as Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) – can expect to face voter backlash as unemployment rates continue to climb. The trillion dollar spending bill was shoved through Congress under the false pretense that unemployment could only be contained to eight percent by passing this bill and now Carol Shea-Porter will have to answer to the American taxpayers who have had to foot the bill with nothing to show except even higher unemployment.
“Carol Shea-Porter has yet to answer the American taxpayers’ questions about how much money she’s willing to spend – and more importantly, where are the jobs she promised,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “After spending trillions of dollars and staring at double-digit unemployment rates, Carol Shea-Porter may be joining other middle-class Americans in the unemployment line after failing to stimulate the economy like she promised.”
The White House Claimed So-Called “Economic Stimulus” Would Hold Unemployment to Eight Percent This Year
"In January, the incoming administration predicted in a white paper study that without a huge stimulus package, unemployment would reach just over 8%, and would be contained at under 8% with a stimulus package." (Jake Tapper, "President Obama Predicts Unemployment Will Hit 10% This Year," ABC News' Political Punch Blog, 6/16/09)
Washington Post Reports that Democrats – Such as Carol Shea-Porter – Can Expect to Face Voter Backlash from Worsening Economic Outlook – Unemployment Heading into Double Digits
Despite signs that the recession gripping the nation's economy may be easing, the unemployment rate is projected to continue rising for another year before topping out in double digits, a prospect that threatens to slow growth, increase poverty and further complicate the Obama administration's message of optimism about the economic outlook.
The likelihood of severe unemployment extending into the 2010 midterm elections and beyond poses a significant political hurdle to President Obama and congressional Democrats, who are already under fire for what critics label profligate spending. Continuing high unemployment rates would undercut the fundamental argument behind much of that spending: the promise that it will create new jobs and improve the prospects of working Americans, which Obama has called the ultimate measure of a healthy economy.
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So far, the White House has counseled patience even as the political debate surrounding its economic policies grows more urgent. Officials point out that job growth will not come until robust economic expansion takes hold, which they expect will happen as stimulus funding works its way through the economy. Still, the flagging job market is likely to stir calls for further stimulus efforts as polls show voters growing increasingly wary of federal spending in the wake of a costly series of financial- and auto-industry bailouts and amid current efforts to expand health-care coverage to the uninsured, which is estimated to cost at least $1 trillion over the next decade.
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Before passage of the stimulus bill, the Obama administration had predicted that unemployment would peak at 8 percent before beginning to abate this fall. But unemployment has already reached 9.4 percent, the highest level in a quarter-century, and the situation is not projected to start improving until long after the White House had predicted.
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But with polls showing increasing public opposition to government spending and with no significant constituency mobilized to push for more government investment in jobs, the political prospects for any further stimulus legislation seem slim. Meanwhile, the continued rise in unemployment is creating an opening for Republican critics, who have criticized the level of spending Obama has pursued to try to fix the economy.(Michael A. Fletcher, “Recovery's Missing Ingredient: New Jobs,” Washington Post, June 22, 2009)
Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 07:00AM