Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and congressional Democrats today continued to defend the Obama Administration’s job-killing agenda despite double-digit unemployment and widespread economic uncertainty. Secretary Solis’ testimony, delivered during her first ever appearance before the House Education and Labor Committee, comes on the heels of President Obama’s announcement last week that the White House would make jobs its number one focus in 2010 after a year in which Democrats’ $862 billion “stimulus” package has failed to achieve its promised job creation.
“The President’s latest ‘pivot’ to jobs notwithstanding, today’s hearing underscored the reality that after a year of Democrats’ government expansion, American families are still left to ask ‘where are the jobs?’,” said Rep. John Kline, the committee’s senior Republican member. “Democrats have no shortage of economic rhetoric, but their policies have failed to deliver. Unfortunately, what we heard today was little more than a defense of failed policies. The Democrats’ so-called ‘stimulus’ plan – a costly package of big-government ambition and spending – has failed to inspire confidence among our nation’s job creators. Yet Democrats remain committed to more of the same.”
Secretary Solis’s testimony affirmed the Obama Administration’s commitment to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), citing the struggling economy as justification for taking away the rights of American workers. Card check, as it is commonly known, forces workers into unions without the protection of a secret ballot election and empowers government-appointed arbitrators to impose wages, benefits, and work rules without the agreement of workers or employers.
“The Administration’s stubborn commitment to this signature job-killing agenda item is a stark reminder that Democrats are prepared to reward special interests at the expense of America’s workforce,” said Kline. “This culture of favoritism, which is playing out through legislation and regulation, is keeping employers and investors on the sidelines and workers out of jobs.”
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