A group of Republican senators recently penned a letter to the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Labor demanding answers regarding the exaggerated job growth number that had to be revised down by more than 800,000.
The letter, obtained by the New York Post, was led by Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and signed by Republican Senators Ted Budd from North Carolina, Rick Scott from Florida, Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma, and Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee.
'Created a false impression for the public.'
Last week, the Biden-Harris administration came under fire after its Bureau of Labor Statistics released its preliminary annual benchmark review, revealing that it had overstated job growth by 818,000, Blaze News previously reported.
According to the report, most of those revisions were in the professional and business services sector, as well as leisure and hospitality, retail trade, and manufacturing. The nearly -30% correction marked the largest overestimation since 2009. Final figures will not be reported until February 2025, well after the November presidential election.
The gross miscalculation prompted the Republican senators to question whether the initial estimate was politically motivated.
Marshall told the Post, “Using taxpayer dollars to mislead the public for political gain is an outrageous betrayal of trust and one of the reasons Americans have lost all faith in this administration.”
“Manipulating the numbers to spin a false narrative while people are struggling to afford gas and groceries is not only dishonest — it’s insulting,” he added.
In the letter to DOL acting director Julie Su, the senators wrote, “These misleading numbers created a false impression for the public and cast doubt on the validity of the Bureau’s accuracy and legitimacy.”
“As we approach the presidential election in approximately 70 days, the state of the economy is one of the major issues on [Americans’] minds. There should be no confusion when it comes to evaluating the health of our economy,” the letter stated.
The senators requested more detailed information regarding the revisions, including how many jobs were added as a result of the end of the COVID-19 shutdowns, how many positions were part-time and full-time, and how many government jobs were added.
The DOL has until September 9 to respond to the senators' inquiry.
Former President Donald Trump (R) called the overestimated jobs report a “massive scandal.”
“The Harris-Biden Administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating Job Statistics to hide the true extent of the Economic Ruin they have inflicted upon America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “New Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the Administration PADDED THE NUMBERS with an extra 818,000 Jobs that DO NOT EXIST, AND NEVER DID.”
He warned that if Vice President Kamala Harris (D) were elected president in the upcoming election, millions of jobs would “vanish overnight.”
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The new acting director of the Secret Service was on the hot seat during an appearance before a joint session of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees on Tuesday, testifying that he had never personally denied former President Donald Trump extra security for his outdoor rallies but that he would hold "accountable" all agents assigned to Trump's Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe spoke to the two Senate committees to discuss the recent assassination attempt on Trump, a shooting that in addition to nearly killing the former president, claimed the life of former fire chief Corey Comperatore and critically wounded two others.
'So, it is a room that makes the decision?'
In anticipation of Rowe's testimony, RealClearPolitics issued a shocking report on Tuesday morning that claimed Rowe was "directly involved" in Secret Service decisions to deny the Trump campaign's repeated requests for "more magnetometers, additional agents, and other resources to help screen rallygoers." Such added security requests were denied over the course of two years, RCP claimed, citing "several sources familiar with the decision-making" at the Secret Service agency.
The report from RCP further alleged that Rowe had sole authority to decide whether "to deny counter sniper teams to any Trump event outside of driving distance from D.C."
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) mentioned the RCP report during a heated exchange with the acting director.
"RealClearPolitics reports this morning that you were directly involved in denying additional security resources and personnel, including counter-snipers, not just to this event, but over the last two years, that President Trump's team repeatedly asked for these additional resources, and you personally were involved in denying them," Hawley stated. "Is that true?"
"Senator, as I stated earlier, that is not true," Rowe replied.
When Hawley asked again whether Rowe was involved in denying the Trump campaign more security, Rowe continued to deny the allegations: "Uh no, not me. No, sir."
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) likewise pressed Rowe on who made the call to deny Trump added security, prompting a strange response from the acting Secret Service director.
"You've stated that on multiple occasions, President Trump's team was denied more the detail, more assets," Marshall said. "Who denies that? Who's the person that denies that, generally speaking?"
Rowe answered: "So, Senator, there, uh, there's a process, uh, again, there's a conversation had with the detail."
Rather than name names, Rowe kept referring to a "process," a "conversation," and even a nebulous group called "the war room," making Marshall so exasperated about all the seeming obfuscation that he eventually quipped, "So, it is a room that makes the decision?"
Rowe's refusal to identify the personnel responsible for making decisions regarding security at Trump rallies also seemed to contradict his opening statement, during which he pledged to hold "accountable" any of his employees who "violated agency protocols."
In fact, Sen. Hawley managed to get Rowe to admit that not a single agent affiliated with securing the July 13 rally had yet been fired. "I will tell you, Senator, that I will not rush to judgment," Rowe stubbornly insisted, "that people will be held accountable, and I will do so with integrity and not rush to judgment and put people unfairly persecuted."
"I have been forthcoming, sir," Rowe later added.
"That remains to be seen," Hawley shot back. "You've been on the job a few days so far. You fired nobody."
Rowe became acting director of the Secret Service after former Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last week.
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The Safeguarding The Overall Protection of Minors (STOP) Act would reportedly put heavy fines on doctors who perform transgender procedures on minors.
School leadership at the University of Kansas appear to have no plans for keeping students safe against violent threats from staff.
Only someone like McConnell could use his impending departure from the leadership ranks to act even more swampy.
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