Biden says ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ are threat to economy in wake of strong jobs report

President Biden on Friday said Republicans in Congress are threatening to hurt the U.S. economy, while hailing the March jobs report that showed the U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs.

“Extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress, on the other hand, are threatening to wreak havoc on our economy with debt limit brinkmanship,” Biden said in a statement.

He argued that Republicans’ “extreme agenda would send the unprecedented investments we’ve made here in America – along with the jobs that come with it – overseas. And it’s all to pay for even more giveaways to the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations.” 

The unemployment rate declined to 3.5 percent and the report released on Friday showed the labor market stayed tight despite interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Analysts were expecting the economy to add 238,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 3.6 percent.

“This is a good jobs report for hard-working Americans,” the president said on Friday, adding that the economic recovery is because of the policies his administration has put in place.

The president also said that there is more work to be done and mentioned the manufacturing tour that he and members of his administration have been on, which included trips from officials this week to Georgia, New Mexico, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Biden has used his budget proposal to fuel attacks on Republicans and has regularly slammed a conservative group’s budget proposal. The Freedom Caucus is pushing to restrict discretionary funding for fiscal 2024 at the 2022 threshold, while keeping defense funding at current levels, in order to balance the federal budget in 10 years.

A Congressional Budget Office estimate found that to reach the goal of balancing the budget in 10 years without raising taxes on the wealthy or corporations and without cutting Social Security, Medicare, defense and some veteran’s benefits, Republicans would need to eliminate everything else in the federal budget.