Blog Post

Today, the Department of Labor announced that the economy added 69,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent. Approximately 82,000 new jobs were created in the private sector, marking the 27th consecutive month of private sector job growth.

In a press conference today, Speaker Boehner and Republican leaders defended their plan to protect tax breaks for millionaires, Big Oil and corporations that ship jobs overseas.

When asked about Leader Pelosi's letter calling for an immediate vote to extend middle-income tax cuts for those making up to $1 million to give families and small businesses economic certainty and to use the money to pay down the debt – Speaker Boehner proved he would say anything to hold these cuts hostage:

Congressional Republicans have so far chosen to stand with millionaires instead of the middle class.

And despite the GOP's debt ceiling debacle which unquestionably hurt our economy last year, Speaker Boehner is gearing up to do it again.

In a column for Bloomberg, Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, both professors at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, described Speaker Boehner's threat to rehash last year's debt ceiling fight an "act of economic sabotage":

This afternoon, House Democrats held a hearing, co-chaired by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Congressman George Miller (D-CA), to discuss the need for legislation that gives rights to employees to challenge and eliminate pay discrimination in the workplace. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which passed in the 110th and 111th Congresses, is being blocked from a vote by the Republican leadership.

To:  Congressional Republicans

Fr:   Democratic Leader's Press Office

Dt:   May 29, 2012

Re:  Why Wait?

We both agree that taxes should not be hiked on America's middle class.  So why wait to provide American families and small businesses certainty?

Speaker John Boehner continues to use taxpayer dollars to defend discrimination by advocating for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court.  But yesterday, he and his GOP-led Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) were dealt another blow to their efforts—a federal district court in the Northern District of California ruled DOMA unconstitutional and held that federal tax law cannot limit the participation of same-sex married couples and domestic partners in a long-term care insurance plan.

Today Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Speaker Boehner calling for the House to immediately vote on a permanent extension of the middle income tax cuts – for those making up to $1 million – and use the revenues resulting from the expiring tax breaks for those earning more than a million dollars to pay down the deficit.

From the letter:

"If we really are serious about getting the American people back to work, removing the clouds of uncertainty are important. We -- you look at the end of the year, we're looking at the largest tax increase in America history on January the 1st. We're looking at big cuts to our Department of Defense that are going to affect our ability to keep Americans safe. And we're looking at an increase in the debt limit.