Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), Chairman-designate of the Joint Economic Committee, commented on today’s Employment Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that the U.S. economy added 168,000 private sector payroll jobs in December 2012 and that the unemployment rate remained steady at 7.8% during the month.

“I hope this is not the new normal. The economy is simply not growing fast enough to generate significant improvement in the job market,” Brady said. “The Obama recovery is three million jobs behind the average for post-war recoveries at this point and our GDP should be $1.2 trillion stronger if we had the right economic leadership from the White House.”

Brady continued, “We are still lacking faster growth driven by private business investment in new buildings, equipment and software. That’s the missing ingredient that will accelerate job creation, boost wages, and help Congress address our nation’s deficit crisis. Why does the White House continue the same policies that produce the same weak results?”