DNC Chair Statement on a Strong August Jobs Report

WASHINGTON – DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile released the following statement in response to the August jobs report, which showed 151,000 new jobs created and the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent:

“Today’s strong jobs report is further proof that Democratic leadership in the White House is the right choice to keep our economy growing. We must elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine to build on the progress of the last seven and a half years. At the end of the last Republican administration, our economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month and millions of Americans were losing their homes and savings. But under the Obama Administration, our economy has rebounded, the unemployment rate is under five percent, and U.S. businesses have created more than 15 million new jobs over the last 77 months.

“Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are ready to build on that momentum and create an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. They understand that despite the gains we’ve made, there’s still more work to do, and they have the experience and the vision to get it done. They’re going to fight to grow America’s middle class, fight to reduce income inequality, and fight to raise wages for hardworking families.

“Donald Trump would only undo our hard-won progress. He said he thinks wages are too high, he rooted for the 2008 housing crisis because he believed he could profit from it, and for years he outsourced the manufacture of many Trump products. Not only that, Trump’s reckless tax proposals would cost the U.S. economy $30 trillion over 20 years while handing massive tax breaks to those at the very top. Even John McCain’s former economic advisor predicted that Trump’s plans could ignite a new global recession and cost nearly 3.5 million U.S. jobs.

“Of course, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine cannot do it alone. We've seen the problems and obstacles to progress that a Republican-controlled Congress, and Republican control of state legislatures, has caused. That's why it's important to also elect Democrats up and down the ballot, to take back the House and Senate. And we will do everything we can to help those candidates to victory.

“The choice is clear: we must elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine as the next president and vice president of the United States.”