With Unemployment Rising, Bush Vows to Focus on Jobs

Faced with rising unemployment nationwide, President Bush vowed Monday to work tirelessly to create jobs, and he called on Congress to approve legislation that he said would put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work.

“What I worry about is when I hear the stories of people who can’t work,” Bush said in Labor Day remarks to members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.

“And so we’ve got to make sure that we continue to focus on jobs.”

The president also cited a number of positive economic indicators--”interest rates are low ... inflation is low ... productivity is up”--and he added:

“But I’m not satisfied. And neither should you be. And neither should the United States Congress.”

His remarks underscored anew his determination to escape the fate of his father, who waged a popular war to liberate Kuwait only to be turned out of the White House by voters who felt that he had paid insufficient attention to the nation’s economy.

More Jobless Claims

For three straight weeks last month, the Labor Department reported that growing numbers of Americans had filed new claims for unemployment insurance--a trend that surprised many economists.

The number of Americans continuing to collect jobless benefits jumped by 90,000, to 3.6 million, for the week ending Aug. 17, the most recent period for which the information is available.

The U.S. unemployment rate--now at 5.9%--could hit 6.3% or 6.5% by the fall, some economists fear.

The carpenters union, which sponsored the Labor Day picnic where Bush spoke, quit the AFL-CIO in March 2000 over policy disputes with the strongly pro-Democratic Party labor federation. The 300,000-member union since has become one of the president’s favorite labor organizations.

Its president, Douglas J. McCarron, flew here with Bush aboard Air Force One--the second consecutive Labor Day that the two men have spent together.

McCarron also played a prominent role at Bush’s economic forum in Waco, Texas, on Aug. 13.

Bush’s growing ties to the carpenters union is part of a concerted effort to break the long-standing coziness between the labor movement and the Democratic Party.

The president also has assiduously courted the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which also has broken with the AFL-CIO. The Teamsters union has sided with Bush on some of his top initiatives, including opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas exploration.

By exploiting rifts in the labor movement, the president not only has drained support from Democrats but has also enhanced his standing among blue-collar workers.

“There are obviously some union leaders who have the willingness to put national interests above partisan party interests,” said White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. “There are other union leaders who are really appendages of the Democratic National Committee.”

In the two years before the 2000 elections, unions and their members donated $90 million to candidates and parties--with 94% of that going to Democrats.

A Hectic Two Months

The president’s remarks in this Pittsburgh suburb along the Ohio River also signaled the start of a hectic two months before the November elections, in which the entire House of Representatives, 34 Senate seats and 36 governorships will be at stake.

Bush returned to the White House on Sunday afternoon after a monthlong working vacation at his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

Congress also returns to Washington this week, facing a panoply of thorny issues, including passage of a federal budget and a decision on whether to create a Department of Homeland Security.

Also on the agenda is the growing debate over Bush’s plan to effect a “regime change” in Iraq.

“The president sees this as a window to get things done for the country, particularly in terms of enacting homeland security into law,” Fleischer said.

Bush today is scheduled to host a bipartisan group of senators to discuss the legislation, which was approved by the House but is stalled in the Senate.

In his remarks here, Bush also urged Congress to pass his energy legislation and a terrorism insurance bill that would allow $8 billion worth of commercial construction projects to go forward.

The legislative delay is preventing “300,000 workers” from working, Bush said.

The Labor Day outing was Bush’s 13th trip as president to Pennsylvania, which he narrowly lost to Al Gore in 2000.