Contact: Michael Steel, Kevin Smith, 202-225-4000 

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2010 /Standard Newswire/ -- House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-OH) this morning called on the lame-duck Congress to cut spending and stop all the looming tax hikes after the Department of Labor reported that unemployment rose to 9.8 percent in November despite Obama Administration projections that the 'stimulus' would keep unemployment below eight percent.  Joblessness has now topped 9.5 percent for 16 straight months, the longest such stretch since the Great Depression.  Boehner issued the following statement:

"Any sign of job growth in this struggling economy is encouraging, but clearly no match for the uncertainty families and small businesses are facing, which is why we must cut spending and stop all the looming tax hikes.  

"Unfortunately, Democratic leaders continue to insist on wasting time with meaningless votes as they try to make it as difficult as possible to stop their job-killing tax hike.  Families and small businesses have had enough of politicians in Washington talking about creating jobs while doing everything in their power to kill more jobs.  This is exactly the kind of Washington game-playing the American people voted against on Election Day.  The lame-duck Congress should do the right thing and vote immediately to cut spending and stop all the tax hikes.  If they don't, the new House majority will in January.

"As economists and small business owners have warned, the last thing our economy needs right now is a job-killing tax hike.  Republicans are focused on keeping our pledge to America to cut spending and permanently stop all the tax hikes.  Our economy will ultimately recover, but it will do so because of hard work and entrepreneurship, not more of the same job-killing policies and spending binges."