GOP: Weak Job Report Means Taxes Shouldn't Rise

The Associated Press reports:

Top congressional Republicans said Friday that a report that few new jobs were created last month shows this is not the time for the government to be raising taxes. But the GOP House speaker said the gloomy numbers also underscored the need for a deal on raising the federal debt limit and cutting massive budget deficits.

With the Obama administration and Congress looking for a compromise to end their standoff over government debt, House GOP leaders used the latest jobs reports to drive home their position on taxes.

"The situation that we face is pretty urgent, as a matter of fact I would describe it as dire," House Speaker John Boehner said at a news conference, emphasizing that "a debt limit increase that raises taxes or fails to make serious spending cuts won't pass the House."

He was backed up by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who said that deficit reduction talks held by Vice President Joe Biden that Cantor abandoned had ended because Democrats were insisting on raising taxes.

"Now it just does not make sense for Americans to suffer under higher taxes in an economy like this," said Cantor, R-Va.