Unemployment, Deficit Continue Climbing Upward Despite Reid’s “Stimulus”

Just days after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Vice President Joe Biden attempted a self-congratulatory political event in Reno bragging about the success of the so-called “stimulus” bill, new numbers show Nevada’s unemployment rate continued trending upward during the month of September 2009.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “joblessness in Nevada rose a tenth of a percentage point from August to September, going from 13.2 percent to 13.3 percent. The jump in Las Vegas was more significant, rising from 13.4 percent to 13.9 percent in the month.”

While Reid was railroading the nearly trillion-dollar “stimulus” package through the Senate back in February 2009, he promised the Democrats’ massive spending bill “would create three and a half million jobs across the country, including 34,000 in Nevada.” At the time Reid made this claim in February, Nevada’s unemployment stood at 10 percent.

The news also comes on the heels of Friday’s revelation that the federal deficit had surged to an all-time high of $1.4 trillion – a 17 percent increase in the last nine months. This deficit number, which more than tripled last year’s record, is higher than the last four years of the Bush Administration – combined.

“Unfortunately for Nevadans struggling through their state’s economic downturn, today’s unemployment numbers are further proof that Harry Reid’s promises about the stimulus providing timely, targeted, and temporary relief have fallen far short,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Brian Walsh.

“In the eight months since the passage of the so-called stimulus, the only numbers that have risen are the unemployment rate and the federal deficit,” Walsh continued. “It is far past time for Reid to stop pushing his liberal agenda in Washington and focus on advancing pro-growth policies that will provide meaningful relief to Nevada’s hurting families and small businesses.”