Washington, DC -- The nation's unemployment rate inched up to 9.2% in June as our economy created an anemic 18,000 total payroll jobs when roughly 250,000 new payroll jobs are needed to significantly reduce the unemployment rate.

"America is at an economic decision point," said U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee. "When the choice is between growing the federal government and growing jobs, I choose jobs."

From 1981-2001, Congress cut the size of the federal government from 22% of our nation's Gross Domestic Product to 18%. The result was 37 million new private sector jobs – an increase of 50%. As government grew again, Main Street lost 2.7 million jobs.

"We are several million jobs below what the stimulus sales pitch promised," concluded Brady. "Big government solutions have failed and there are fewer Americans in the workforce now than in the past quarter century. The choice here is an easy one."

Brady has introduced the MAP Act which, if enacted, will decrease the size of the federal government and allow the private sector to do what it does best -- create jobs. The MAP act caps and then reduces federal spending as a share of our economy down to its level during the prosperous second half of 1990s. MAP also has durable guardrails to enforce these spending caps.

Texas Office: Tracee Evans (936-441-5700)
Washington Office: Rebecca Mark (202-225-4901)