President Obama on Thursday morning,
commenting on
the June jobs report which showed the strongest job growth to start a year since 1999:
We just got a jobs report today showing that we've now seen the fastest job growth in the United States in the first half of the year since 1999. So this is also the first time we've seen five consecutive months of job growth over 200,000 since 1999. And we've seen the quickest drop in unemployment in 30 years.
The president was careful to note that we still have a long ways to go and said that if Washington were able to get its act together, things would be getting better even more quickly. Specifically, he cited infrastructure investment, raising the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, supporting parents by giving them assistance with childcare, and taking action on immigration reform. His bottom line:
My hope is, is the American people look at today’s news and understand that, in fact, we are making strides. We have not seen more consistent job growth since the ‘90s. But we can make even more progress if Congress is willing to work with my administration and to set politics aside, at least occasionally which I know is what the American people are urgently looking for.
And the GOP's response?
Fat chance.