Pelosi blames GOP, Bush for unemployment Jake Sherman

August 6, 2010 12:46 PM EDT

Republicans are “fighting against the economic recovery every step of the way,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday after worse-than-expected job numbers were released.

Pelosi also took a shot at former President George W. Bush, saying the 71,000 private-sector jobs added to the economy in July is a “sharp turnaround from the 700,000 jobs per month lost under President Bush.”

Nowhere in the statement, though, does Pelosi characterize what exactly she makes of the jobless numbers.
“Today’s report shows our teachers, police officers, firefighters, and nurses are still feeling the worst of the Bush recession — while Republican leaders demean them as ‘special interests’ and try to block legislation that will grow our economy,” Pelosi said. “Democrats will return next week to save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs for our teachers, nurses, firefighters and police officers — and close loopholes that allow corporations to ship American jobs overseas.? This is critical as over the last three months, state and local governments have cut more than 46,000 jobs in education.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) called the numbers “encouraging.”

“That fact shows that our economy is making progress. Nevertheless, total employment fell this month, due largely to the end of temporary census jobs. As long as millions of Americans remain out of work, we clearly have more work to do,” Hoyer said in a statement