Pelosi: Jobless Claims Show Need for Economic Recovery and Job Creation Package and Aid to Autos

Editors comment: Gird your loins, Pelosi is about to "help" us again.....it would have been nice if she would have done something useful earlier but, hey, what's a half-million lost jobs?"

WASHINGTON, December 18, 2008: Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the latest economic news that 554,000 Americans filed for jobless claims:

"Today's jobless claims again illustrate the struggles that workers are facing as they search for jobs, worry about layoffs, or fight to make ends meet. It is critical that Democrats and Republicans work together to ensure that the new year is a time of new economic opportunities for all Americans. Congress is working with the incoming Obama Administration to pass at the earliest date an economic recovery plan to provide immediate relief to Americans, to create or save 2.5 million American jobs, and to make long-term investments to strengthen the economy.

"One action the Bush Administration can take immediately to help stabilize the economy is to use its legal authority to provide assistance to prevent the imminent insolvency of the domestic auto industry. With 2 million American jobs riding on the outcome, the Administration should provide this assistance with tough accountability standards and an insistence on shared sacrifice, as was included in the package negotiated between the White House and the Congress and passed by the House."