Democrats seize on poor jobs data

Top congressional Democrats accused President Bush of poor stewardship of the economy after a government report on Friday showed there were only 18,000 jobs added in December, the smallest monthly jobs increase in four years.

“This morning’s jobs report confirms what most Americans already knew — President Bush’s economic policies have failed our country’s middle class,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

{mosads}Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) charged Bush with “a shameful history of losing jobs in America.”

The disappointing jobs numbers come after a slew of other data — including crude prices of roughly $100 a barrel and falling home prices and rising foreclosures — have stoked fears of a recession. The report showed that the unemployment rate rose to 5 percent, a two-year high.

The data have increased pressure on Republicans and Democrats to head off a downturn that could hurt them at the polls. Members of both parties are preparing policy responses, and Republicans are seeking to pin the blame for the souring economy on Democrats, whom they criticized for mismanaging economic matters since they took over Congress last year.

“Thanks to an agenda that seems more focused on expanding the government’s size and reach than on expanding the country’s economy, we’re now starting to see — much earlier than most had anticipated — the first chickens coming home to roost,” Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the minority whip, said in a statement Friday after the release of the jobs numbers.

Bush has said that he is mulling an economic stimulus package that he might unveil during his State of the Union address, which is scheduled for Jan. 28. He has revealed no details about what the package might entail.

After meeting with a group of advisers on the capital markets Friday, Bush acknowledged to reporters that there were weaknesses in specific areas of the economy, but he downplayed the threat of a recession.

“This economy of ours is on a solid foundation, but we can’t take economic growth for granted. And there are signs that will cause us to be ever more diligent and make sure that good policies come out of Washington,” he said.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto on Friday told reporters that Bush would continue to weigh whether the economic situation merited intervention from the administration. He declined to say whether a potential stimulus package would include tax cuts, but signaled the White House would stand firm against tax increases.

“I think it’s clear that if we allowed tax increases to occur over this past year, that would have been a disaster for this economy,” Fratto said.

Democrats are likely to push their own policy response to the softening economy. Last month, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers called for a stimulus package.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, on Friday seized on the lackluster jobs numbers to argue that the government should step in fast.

“Today’s job numbers should be a wakeup call that a public policy response is needed to help the economy recover more quickly and to help average Americans deal with any downturn,” he said.