GOP message: The only question to ask is 'Where are the jobs?'

After a Labor Department report showed the unemployment rate ticking up to 9.2 percent, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said there is only one question that should be asked of the Obama administration.

"Where are the jobs?" she said in her party's weekly address.

“The Obama Administration promised its ‘stimulus’ would keep unemployment below eight percent," she said. "Two and a half years later, the unemployment rate is more than nine percent and still rising. That’s unacceptable. America can do better."

The report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found employment in most major private-sector industries changed little over the month, while government employment continued to trend down.

“By and large, it’s uncertainty that’s holding our economy back, whether it’s uncertainty about our overwhelming debt, uncertainty about energy prices, or uncertainty about all the burdensome mandates coming down from Washington," McMorris Rodgers said.

She said the GOP has a plan for government "to just get out of the way," but it is being blocked by Senate Democrats.

"We’ve passed legislation to stop policies that drive up gas prices and expand domestic energy production to help lower costs and create jobs," she said. "We’ve voted to modernize the patent system to help America’s innovators level the playing field. And we’ve approved a budget that pays down our debt over time and makes Washington live within its means."

McMorris Rodgers also said her party is fighting in negotiations over raising the debt ceiling to "stop spending money we don't have."

"To be truly serious, these cuts should exceed the amount by which President Obama wants the debt limit increased," she said. "And there can be no job-crushing tax hikes on families and small businesses."

With House Speaker John Boehner’s encouragement, President Obama is pushing for congressional leaders to strike a far-reaching agreement to reduce the deficit by more than $4 trillion over 10 to 12 years, which would include more than $1 trillion in new revenues, officials said Friday.

Top congressional leaders from bother parties are meeting once again at the White House on Sunday to hammer out a budget deal before Aug. 2, after when Treasury says the U.S. will default on its debt.

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