Boehner Claims Recovery Act Played No Role In Lowering Unemployment

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) refused Friday to attribute November’s small drop in unemployment to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“We’re encouraged that the rate dropped slightly, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the stimulus bill at all,” said Boehner during a morning press conference.

According to the Department of Labor's Burea of Labor Statistics, November’s unemployment rate was 10 percent, a slight decrease from October’s 10.2 percent.

Boehner pointed to the 27,000 construction jobs lost in November as evidence for the Recovery act’s failure to bolster employment.

“I looked at numbers yesterday on construction employment and you can see where the stimulus bill has passed, but the line has continued to run downward uninterrupted ever since,” said the Minority Leader.

Added Boehner, “You can argue that the line could have gotten worse had it not been for the stimulus on construction jobs, but other than the money that was in there for infrastructure, the other ... $740 billion in this bill had nothing to do with putting people back to work.”

$80.9 billion in Recovery act funds has been reserved for improving the U.S. infrastructure.

“They may have saved some government jobs,” Boehner quipped. “I will admit that.”