WASHINGTON, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after news that the economy had shrunk in the last quarter of 2012:
“This is a wake-up call for Washington. While DC has been manufacturing political crises, real people and businesses are suffering. Our priority should be making the economy stronger to create good jobs now. The last thing we need is a politician-induced recession.
“As we approach the sequester deadline, we must recognize that savage cuts to education and infrastructure will not move us forward. Let’s stop moving from political crisis to political crisis and creating new economic problems, and instead set our nation on a long-term trajectory to grow our economy and bring down our deficit without sacrificing jobs.”
Merkley voted against the debt deal that created the sequester because of concerns that it would hurt job creation and working families. In 2011, he urged the Supercommittee to weigh any proposals by how many jobs they were estimated to create.
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