Press Releases

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga released the following statement on today’s Department of Labor December report that the nation’s unemployment rate is above 8 percent for the 35^th consecutive month:

“I am cautiously encouraged that once again the national unemployment numbers dropped marginally, but we cannot forget the ‘hidden unemployed,’ those who have simply stopped looking for work and don’t get counted in this report, and including them, according to the Department of Labor’s own statistics, the rate skyrockets to a devastating 15.2 percent—totaling 23.7 million Americans.

We must strengthen job opportunities until true unemployment drops much further and faster. There are two easy answers sitting on the Senate and President’s desks: The House has nearly 30 jobs bills languishing in the Senate, where it is far past time they get to work, so we can get all Americans back to work, too. And I encourage the President to stop delaying and make a decision about the Keystone XL pipeline project that has bipartisan support and would mean thousands of new jobs immediately. There is no reason these cannot be taken care of today.”

Find a list of House-passed jobs bills at Huizenga.House.Gov/JobTracker.