In a press conference Tuesday Speaker of the House John Boehner was asked about jobs:
“Do you have any sort of estimate on how many jobs will be lost through this?” Pacifica Radio’s Leigh Ann Caldwell inquired at a news conference just before the House began its debate on the cuts.
Boehner stood firm in his polished tassel loafers. “Since President Obama has taken office the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs, and if some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it,” he said.
So be it. Boehner’s got his priorities. He wants to undo the last Congress (really has there ever been a more clownish and juvenile Congress?) plus there’s women to punish. Jobs just need to take a back seat.
Dana Milbank does a follow-up, just how many job losses are we talking about anyway?
Well, Mr. Speaker, I do. I checked with budget expert Scott Lilly of the Center for American Progress, and, using the usual multipliers, he calculated that the cuts – a net of $59 billion in the last half of fiscal 2011 – would lead to the loss of 650,000 government jobs, and the indirect loss of 325,000 more jobs as fewer government workers travel and buy things. That’s nearly 1 million jobs – possibly enough to tip the economy back into recession.
I really miss Nancy Pelosi as Speaker.