KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- President Bush prodded Congress to pass an economic stimulus package Friday, pointing to "troubling signs" in a new report that ended a 52-month streak of national job growth.
Bush was in the nation's heartland pressuring Congress to boost the sagging economy with a plan of tax rebates for millions of people and tax breaks for companies. The White House-backed economic rescue deal in the House has hit roadblocks in the Senate.
"Inflation's low. Productivity's high, but there are certainly some troubling signs, serious signs that the economy is weakening and that we've got to do something about it," said Bush, who spoke just hours after the Labor Department reported that employers cut 17,000 jobs in January.
It was the first such reduction in more than four years and a fresh sign that the economy might be stalling. And it ended Bush's repeated claim - made most recently in his State of the Union address - that "America has added jobs for a record 52 straight months."
On Friday, at Hallmark Cards Inc., Bush said, "A serious matter is that for the first time in 52 months we didn't create jobs."
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/economy/bush_economy.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes
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