Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Sofia Sanchez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Democratic and Republican members of the Joint Economic Committee expressed different feelings on Friday about the newly released April unemployment numbers.

With the nation's unemployment rate rising to 9.9% during the previous month, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) warned Congress that now is not the time to be celebrating.

“No one in Congress is raising a 'Mission Accomplished' banner just yet,” he said.

Brady lamented the fact that the federal government outpaced small businesses terms of adding payroll during the month. Manufacturing, hospitality, construction and mining, are all trailing big businesses in job growth so far this year, he added.

“I guess I am troubled by the thought that our main street...companies aren’t hiring,” he said.

Brady attributed the bad news to the enactment of "careless fiscal polices" by both the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, claiming they will eventually create an economic collapse in the U.S. parallel to the one in that has occurred in Greece, a nation that is requesting billions of dollars from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) just to keep its economy afloat.

Others on the committee, however, chose to focus on positive elements within the report. Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) viewed the April job situation in a different light.

“Although the unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent, the increase is due to re-entrance into the labor force, a sign of increased optimism about job prospects...We have come a great distance in the past 15 months,” she said.