Fifth District, Senate Candidates Give Their Take on June Unemployment Numbers

Republican candidates in both Connecticut’s Fifth District congressional race and U.S. Senate contest said the national unemployment report released Friday morning shows that the policies of U.S. President Barack Obama are faltering, while Democrats said Congress needs to pass legislation that would give more certainty to homeowners and businesses.

The unemployment report showed that the U.S. economy added about 80,000 jobs in June. The nationwide unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Roraback

In an interview with Capitol Watch shortly after the report’s release, Fifth District Republican candidate Andrew Roraback predicted that the implementation of the federal health care overhaul could be another drag on those job creation figures.

“Going forward there’s no question that the specter of Obamacare is going to further inhibit job creation,” said Roraback, a state senator from Goshen. “Right now American business has unprecedent cash reserves. But they’re choosing not to invest their capital because of uncertainty about the future of our country.”

In the Fifth District primary race, Roraback is facing off against rival Republicans Lisa Wilson-Foley, Mark Greenberg and Justin Bernier. The Fifth District includes Hartford-area suburbs such as Simsbury and Meriden and stretches west to Danbury and Salisbury.

“Today’s report just reinforces the fact that the economic policies of the Obama Administration have failed,” Greenberg said Thursday. “The simple fact is that government intrusion into our free market economy has not solved our economic woes, it has only added to them.”

Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon took a similar view, but also appeared to be looking past her primary in the Senate race as she took shots at Democratic Senate candidate Chris Murphy, who currently represents the Fifth District in the U.S. House.

McMahon is facing off against Republican Christopher Shays in the Republican Senate primary while Murphy is paired against Democratic rival Susan Bysiewicz.

“Today’s unemployment numbers spell more trouble for Connecticut families and small business owners,” she said in a statement. “They are one more sign that the economic policies that career politicians have put into place are simply not working.”

“This month brings another disappointing jobs report,” said Shays.  ”By no estimates can this be called an economic recovery.”

June unemployment figures for Connecticut won’t be released until later this month. But BLS data for May showed that Connecticut’s unemployment situation was slightly better than the national average: the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in May was about 7.8 percent, about .4 percent lower than the national average.

“While every job created is good news for some family, today’s reported jobs number is a stark reminder why need to remove the Republicans and their unwillingness to pass jobs legislation from power in the House and elect an organizer who will fight to bring good jobs with solid benefits home to Connecticut families,” said Democratic Fifth District candidate Chris Donovan.

“The best way to improve the economy is to fix the mortgage crisis which was caused by Wall Street,” said Bysiewicz. “By providing real mortgage relief to middle class homeowners, who are underwater through no fault of their own, we can provide real consumer confidence and increase middle class consumer demand.”

Democratic Fifth District candidate Dan Roberti said Congress needs to take actions that aid the creation of more jobs with better pay for workers.

“With the national unemployment rate unchanged in June, and employers still cautious on hiring, we need to keep focused on job creation,” he said.

Roberti is facing off against House Speaker Chris Donovan and former state Rep. Elizabeth Esty in the August contest.

“The President deserves a lot of credit for his leadership and accomplishments on job creation despite a gridlocked Congress,” said Esty later in her own statement. “Nevertheless, there’s no denying that it’s still tough out there. Far too many families are struggling to find jobs, stay in their homes, and just get by.”

“Our economy is adding jobs, but not fast enough for people in Connecticut who are still out of work,” said Democratic Senate candidate Chris Murphy. “But maybe this report will finally rattle the obstructionists in Congress enough so that they’ll stop standing in the way of policies that could add thousands of new jobs right now, like extra road and bridge building or stronger Buy American laws.”