Bernie Sanders Statements on Unemployment, Global Warming

WASHINGTON, June 6 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) commented on today’s report that the jobless rate in May jumped to 5.5 percent. He also reacted to a Senate filibuster that blocked legislation on global warming.

The Labor Department reported that employers last month shed 49,000 jobs resulting in the biggest jump in the jobless rate in more than two decades.

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Sanders said, “The news about increased unemployment is obviously not good. In my view, what we need to do as soon as possible is to put increased funds into rebuilding our crumbing infrastructure – that’s our roads, our bridges, our culverts, our wastewater plants – and then we deal not only a serious national problem, but we put many people to work.”

Legislation to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and limit the effects of climate change was defeated in the Senate this morning. The 48 to 36 vote was 12 short of the number needed to bring debate to a close.

Sanders said, “I think it’s really unfortunate that we could not end the Republican filibuster and address the crisis of global warming because every day that we don’t deal with it, it’s only going to get worse, it’s only going to get more costly, there’s only going to be more damage to our environment. In my view, if we are aggressive in terms of energy efficiency and sustainable energy, we can not only lower greenhouse gas emissions substantially, but we can create millions of good paying jobs, and that’s exactly what we should be doing.”

Source: Senator Bernie Sanders