Republican, Dem senators spar over Obama’s record

{mosads}McConnell took to the floor in the morning and said that Obama wants Americans to think the state of the economy is measurable by the number of state- and local-government layoffs.

“But what he doesn’t tell you, and what the American people won’t hear him say tomorrow, is that since the recession began, for every government worker who has lost a job, 11 private-sector workers have lost theirs,” McConnell said. “And another thing you won’t hear the president say is that public-sector unemployment is just above 4 percent, while all other private-sector industries are at least twice that. So government employment isn’t the problem — it’s the private sector that is suffering, and it’s the private sector where we need to focus our policies.”

In response, Boxer immediately took to the floor and said that McConnell’s accusations were a daily occurrence in the Senate. Boxer hailed Obama on the economy, saying thanks to Obama’s policies, the economy did not fall into a worse economic recession.

“Every time there’s an attack on this president, I’m going to come down here and tell the American people,” Boxer said.

She said that McConnell had a right to his own opinion but in his criticism was avoiding the facts. She said that the economy has been sputtering because of “the depth of the crisis,” which owes to the policies of the George W. Bush, and not the Obama, administration.

After Boxer finished, Hutchison joined the small floor-speech skirmish. The Texan cited a comment by Obama earlier in June in which he said that the private economy was doing fine. After quick and strong criticism from Republicans, Obama was forced to walk back the comment.

“I cannot believe the president of the United States is so off base as to say the private sector is doing fine,” Hutchison said.

Hutchison said that the economy could recover quickly, “but … not by borrowing more, spending more, taxing more and regulating our small businesses out of existence.”

“Madam President,” Hutchison said to the presiding officer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), “we can do something positive, and it’s time that we got started.”