GOP lawmaker calls job losses under Trump 'Biden's economic crisis'

A House Republican attacked President Joe Biden on Wednesday for having not yet restored all of the millions of jobs lost under former President Donald Trump during his first six months in office.

“Just a reminder, the economy has 5.7 million fewer jobs than before the #COVID19 pandemic and there are 8.7 million Americans who are still without jobs,” Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) tweeted with an image of Biden and the words “Biden’s economic crisis.”

Lesko is right that not all of the jobs lost since the start of the coronavirus pandemic have returned. After Trump’s botched response to COVID-19 left millions of Americans out of work, he left office in January with more than 3 million fewer people employed than at the start of his lone term. According to the Washington Post, Trump is the only president to leave office with significantly fewer people employed than when he entered the White House since the government began tracking the numbers in 1939.

Despite Trump’s economic failures, Lesko never complained about “Trump’s economic crisis.” She wholeheartedly endorsed Trump’s unsuccessful reelection campaign, even serving as an official campaign surrogate.

The first six months of Biden’s presidency have seen an economic boom. With 943,000 jobs added in July, the economy has now recovered nearly 4.1 million jobs in just six months. University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers tweeted on Aug. 6 that the July numbers were “what a robust jobs report looks like.”

Lesko is a fierce opponent of Biden’s jobs proposals.

She voted against the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, dismissing it as a “partisan wish list.” The plan included billions of dollars for small businesses, employee retention, and capital projects.

She has railed against Biden’s American Jobs Plan, tweeting on April 9, “The Democrats’ so-called ‘infrastructure’ bill is not about infrastructure. It’s really about expanding unions’ power, implementing Green New Deal policies, and imposing the left’s socialist agenda on every American.” That plan — and Biden’s American Families Plan — would invest trillions in transportation, water systems, clean energy, broadband, child care, and caregiving infrastructure.

According to a Moody’s estimate, the American economy will create about 2.7 million more jobs with Biden’s economic proposals than it would if Congress did nothing.

Lesko tweeted on May 28, “Biden is looking to continue his reckless spending, but money doesn’t grow on trees. This will continue to drive up inflation rates and devastate hardworking American families.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.