At a press conference discussing the latest Department of Labor jobs report today, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that the unemployment rate – which has been stuck above eight percent for 34 consecutive months – remains unacceptably high and called on Senate Democrats to stop blocking the 25 bipartisan, House-passed jobs bills that are needed to help put Americans back to work.  Video and text of Speaker Boehner’s remarks follows:



“Any job creation is welcome news, but the jobless rate in our country is still unacceptably high.  Today marks the 34^th consecutive month of unemployment above eight percent.  And as you may remember, the Obama Administration promised that unemployment would not exceed eight percent if we passed their ‘stimulus’ bill.  That promise has gone unfulfilled.  More than 300,000 Americans left the labor force last month. That means they stopped looking for work, and I think we should all be concerned about that.  

“The House has passed a series of bills designed to remove government barriers to private-sector job creation. There are now 25 bipartisan bills that have passed the House that are waiting in the United States Senate.  It’s all part of our plan to help America’s job creators.  It’s been our focus all year.  We have a plan and, frankly, if the United States Senate would take up these bipartisan bills, they’d find that there would be bipartisan support in the United States Senate as well.  President Obama should use this opportunity to call on the Senate to move these bills that have [been] passed by the House. 

“The American people want action on jobs, and they want it now.”