Pelosi: President Must Be Held Accountable for Continuing Job Loss'

September 5, 2003

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this morning following the announcement by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that the number of private sector jobs lost since January 2001 increased to 3.3 million last month:

"President Bush has been in office nearly three years, and in that time he has added $3 trillion to the national debt and lost 3.3 million jobs. Today we learned that employers have cut jobs for the seventh straight month. President Bush must be held accountable for his terrible economic record.

"The announcement that the unemployment rate dropped negligibly last month does not reflect the tens of thousands of frustrated and disillusioned Americans who have given up looking for work. President Bush's failed economic policies have cost millions of Americans their jobs and created economic insecurity for millions more.

"In the past week, President Bush has announced a warmed-over stew of old proposals, added a new position to the Commerce Department, and given several speeches on the economy. This lip service does not change the fact that he has not offered a single new initiative that will create jobs.

"President Bush claimed yesterday that his policies are 'paying off,' but I join nearly nine million unemployed Americans in asking: Paying off for whom?"

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