Economy

A common refrain I hear from employers across Nebraska’s Third District is how difficult it has become to find workers to fill the job openings they have. As the unemployment rate rose to a six-month high of 3.7 percent in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job openings in America sits at roughly 11 million. Job openings in the U.S.

This week, President Joe Biden delivered one of the most divisive addresses to the nation I’ve seen in my lifetime. Our country is headed in the wrong direction, and those who oppose the Biden administration’s radical policies do so because of our desire to leave a better, more prosperous America for future generations.

Recently I joined several of my colleagues at a roundtable hosted by the Energy, Climate, and Conservation (ECC) Task Force to discuss proven solutions to help build resilient communities around our country by, in part, effectively addressing threats of storms, floods, wildfires, droughts, and more.

This month I had plans to spend the August district work period connecting with folks in the Third District to hear their concerns and discuss the challenges Nebraskans face. Being called back to Washington for a vote on an ill-conceived, dead-end tax-and-spend package was not on my agenda.

A recession is the worst time to raise taxes, yet here we are again – fighting against a tax-and-spend agenda. Last week, new government data show what American families have been feeling for months now: we are officially in a recession. The U.S. economy shrank by .9 percent in the second quarter of the year, the second consecutive quarter of negative growth.

As families begin to think about back-to-school purchases, Americans received a series of bad news about the economy this week. According to analysis by Deloitte, back to school shoppers will spend, on average, a whopping $661 per student shopping for supplies. Compared to 2019, this is an increase of 27 percent, and compared to 2021, an increase of 8 percent.

As Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine continues with no end in sight, it is as important as ever for the U.S. to strengthen our ties with allies in the region. Standing in solidarity with states at risk of Russian aggression requires us to send a clear message we are working on behalf of the friends of freedom and economic prosperity.

As the American people continue to suffer under President Biden's broken economy, disconcerting data in the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed June as having the weakest overall job growth in the last 14 months. The data also revealed the workforce participation rate is decreasing at a time when employers need workers most.