D.C. Leaders Maintain Focus On Job Creation For Residents

As the most recent data demonstrates scant growth in the nation’s employment rate, lawmakers on Capitol Hill appear to be abruptly shifting their discussions regarding raising the nation’s debt ceiling back to a chief concern of many Americans: unemployment.

But leaders in the nation’s capital – a place where unemployment nears 25 percent in some Wards —say job creation, particularly for minorities, should have been an integral part of the debt ceiling discourse from the very beginning and has been an item persisting at the top of their political and organizational agendas.

At a recent press briefing, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray (D), told reporters that he was concerned that the congressional discussion surrounding the debt ceiling and the deficit reduction did not include job creation.

“It’s really interesting to listen to some of the pundits now in the aftermath — people are starting to talk about job creation,” said Gray. “Job creation should have been an inherent part of the discussion.” Gray expressed especial concern that reductions in federal spending would have an impact on D.C.’s economy as the city lives “right in the shadows” of the federal government.