Pelosi: Jobless Rate Would Be Even Higher If Not For Obama

By Lisa Kellman

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters today that America’s high unemployment rate would be even higher had Democrats not passed the 2009 American Recovery and Reivestment Act, otherwise known as the “stimulus law.”

“If President Obama and congressional Democrats had not acted, we would be at 15 percent unemployment,” Pelosi said during her weekly briefing. “No consolation to those without a job, but an important point to make.”

The current jobless rate is 9.1 percent.

Pelosi accused Republicans of not having any plan to put people back to work, and said Democrats acted quickly when they controled Congress during the first year of Obama’s presidency.

“One week and one day after the president made his inaugural address we passed the Recovery Act in the House, and in a few weeks it was in the Senate saving or creating millions of jobs for the American people,” she said.

The House under current Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has passed more than 15 jobs bills as part of the GOP’s “Plan for America’s Job Creators.” However, the bills have yet to be taken up by the Democrat-controlled Senate.

House Republicans Continue To Critique Obama's Jobs Plan

By Lisa Kellman

House Republicans blasted President Obama’s recent push to get a piecemeal version of his American Jobs Act passed through a divided Congress. 
 
“Unfortunately, while the president is riding around on his Canadian-made bus giving political speaches.  It’s the president’s own regulations that have been standing in the way of our job creators,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters at a Wednesday press conference.

Scalise and a group of House Republicans introduced the “Jobs Through Growth Act” that calls for regulatory, energy and tax policy reform and adds a “grow” measure to their jobs plan, the “Cut, Cap, and Balance.”

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) blamed President Obama’s “garbage” regulations for the difficulties American startup companies are currently facing, saying “the government has wrapped our economy in red tape.”

Lummis and her fellow Republicans vetoed Obama’s American Jobs Act nearly a month ago. Since then, Republicans have been determined to create their own jobs bill that conforms more closely to their own values.

“Mr President, if you don’t want to create 25,000 jobs, we’re going to make sure they’re created whether or not you’re going to continue standing in our way,” warned Scalise said of reports that that Obama would make the final decision on the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

GOP "Crowd Funding" Bill Gets White House Blessing

The White House is backing a GOP bill that would make it easier for people to invest in new businesses.

The Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, introduced by Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), would allow start-up companies to receive up to $10,000 from investors over the internet without having to first register with the Securities and Exchanges Commission.

The administration on Wednesday released a statement saying that the bill “would enable greater flexibility in soliciting relatively small equity investments” and “will make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital and create jobs.”

The measure represents a rare example of agreement between House Republicans and the White House over how best to grow the economy.

Georgia Republican Demands Holder's Resignation

By Andrea Salazar

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is calling for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to resign from office immediately, charging that Holder lied to Congress under oath during his testimony over the “Fast and Furious” operation.

“Eric Holder has a glaring problem with telling the truth,” Broun said in a statement.

Broun added that scandal was the latest misstep in Holder’s career, arguing “some of the worst blunders in our judicial system’s history can be traced directly back to him.”

Broun also listed the role Holder played in the Clinton-era pardoning of fugitive Marc Rich, his refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act and attempting to try 9/11 terrorists in civil courts.”

Over two dozen members of Congress have thus far called for Holder’s resignation.

Occupy Oakland Begins General Strike

Occupy Oakland is attempting to shut down the city Wednesday, urging supporters to skip work or school and warning large businesses to shut their doors or face the demonstrators’ ire.

“We are asking that all workers go on strike, call in sick, take a vacation day or simply walk off the job with their co-workers,” a statement on the movement’s website reads. “All banks and large corporations must close down for the day or demonstrators will march on them.”

The demonstrators also note that they intend to picket or occupy any employers or schools who discipline those who join the strike.

The move, which has gained support from other cities’ occupy movements and a number of union organizations, comes shortly after police and occupiers clashed, leaving one former Iraq war veteran who joined the demonstration in critical condition.