CNN/RNC: Republicans hit Obama after jobs report

Republicans hit Obama after jobs report

Posted by CNN Political Unit

(CNN) - Republicans hurried to criticize Pres. Barack Obama and congressional Democrats Friday after a jobs report showed the American unemployment rate falling slightly to 9%, with only 80,000 jobs created.

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Preibus appeared to be one of the first to respond, putting out a email statement just minutes after the Labor Department issued the October jobs report at 8:30am ET. Preibus said the numbers, which showed the economy adding half as many jobs in October as it added in September, were indicative of a president distracted by his re-election campaign.

"While President Obama spent October on the campaign trail, the American people endured another month of unacceptably high unemployment," Preibus said in a statement issued Friday. "Today's jobs numbers underscore the devastating toll President Obama's record of over-regulation, tax threats and reckless spending has taken on the American economy."

GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota placed blame on Obama for slow economic recovery, but also faulted protesters associated with Occupy Wall Street for taking on capitalism instead of corrupt government.

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Washington (CNN) -- In a pair of votes aimed more at making political points than law, the Senate rejected competing Democratic and Republican proposals to boost construction of roadways and other infrastructure projects.

Republicans blocked the Democratic bill, which would have approved about $50 billion for projects and another $10 billion to start an "infrastructure bank," because it relied on a surtax on people earning more than $1 million a year.

Democrats have tried to pass the surtax multiple times in an effort to convince voters that Republicans care more about their wealthy constituents than about putting the unemployed back to work.

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Democrats rejected a Republican proposal that was aimed, in part, at speeding infrastructure spending by easing regulations that can slow construction, because they oppose GOP plans to offset its cost by rescinding $40 billion in spending approved for this year. Democrats said that violated an agreement about spending levels reached during the debt-ceiling negotiations this year.

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