Boehner Apathetic Towards Federal Job Losses

David Streeter — February 15, 2011 – 2:40 pm | Economy | GOP Hypocrisies | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) recently expressed apathy towards potential federal job losses as a result of the Republican Party’s desired budget cuts. TPM reported:

If House Republicans succeed in cutting tens of billions of dollars in discretionary spending over the next six months, some of the most immediate victims will be federal employees, many of whose jobs will be slashed as their agencies pare back.

At a press conference in the lobby of RNC headquarters Tuesday morning, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) shrugged this off as collateral damage.

‘In the last two years, under President Obama, the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs,’ Boehner said. ‘If some of those jobs are lost so be it. We’re broke.’

Some of those employees will no doubt collect unemployment insurance, so the government’s obligation to them won’t disappear with their jobs.

This is just the latest indication that the man with the “Where are the jobs?” campaign slogan is not sticking to his promise of making job creation his top legislative priority.

Boehner also appears to be incorrect on the number of federal jobs added under President Barack Obama. According to TPM:

Ed O’Keefe of the Washington Post reported last September that there were only 20,000 more federal employees under Obama in 2010 than under George W. Bush in 2002—and that, on a per capita basis (federal employees per 1,000 Americans), it’s at the lowest level at least since 1962.

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