03/16/10

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ The Idaho Legislature's Democrats say the
majority Republican Party is stalling on a package of job-creation
bills at the worst-possible time: When the state's unemployment
rate has hit a near-record high.

February's unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, just shy of
the record 9.6 percent of the early 1980s, according to the state
Department of Labor.

Idaho has lost over 44,000 jobs over two years, and Democrats
say the majority GOP leadership hasn't dedicated enough attention
to the Idaho Jobs and Opportunity Blueprint bills that minority
lawmakers introduced earlier this session.

Senate Assistant Minority Leader Elliot Werk said in a press
release that Republicans are instead playing politics with bills
like the Health Freedom Act that he says could bring costly
lawsuits, not employment opportunities needed to pull Idaho out of
its economic slump.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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