Jobs post big gains and Joe’s quick to take credit

President Biden took a victory lap Friday after a better-than-expected Labor Department report found the U.S. added more than 900,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate continued to dip, signaling the economy is bouncing back in response to the latest injection of coronavirus relief.

Speaking at the White House after the release of the Labor Department’s latest monthly report, Biden said the accelerating pace of hiring means he has overseen more job creation in the first two months of his presidency than “any administration in history.”

However, Biden stressed there’s still “a long way to go” and issued a two-fold plea for states to practice caution in reopening their economies and for Congress to keep advancing his political agenda.

“Don’t give back the progress we’ve all fought so hard to achieve,” Biden said. “We need to finish this job; we need every American to buckle down and keep their guard up in this home stretch.”

The Labor Department report found that the U.S. added 916,000 nonfarm jobs in March, the biggest increase in seven months, while the unemployment rate fell to 6%.

The positive trends come on the heels of Biden signing his $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package into law last month, pouring billions of dollars into juicing up the economy and bringing relief to pandemic-ravaged Americans.

Biden earlier this week unveiled the “American Jobs Plan,” a $2.3 trillion blueprint proposing to overhaul the nation’s crumbling infrastructure while creating millions of new blue-collar jobs in the process.

In his Friday remarks, Biden painted the infrastructure plan as a critical investment to keep the economy buzzing.

But Republicans in Congress have voiced sharp opposition to the infrastructure plan, meaning Democrats will face an uphill battle in trying to turn it into law.

Republicans are especially furious that Biden is proposing to pay for the gargantuan infrastructure package by jacking up the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.

But Biden countered that he’s simply asking to restore a reasonable corporate rate after former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts slashed them from 35% to their current level.

“It’s a once-in-a-generation investment in our economic future, a chance to win the future, paid for by asking big corporations, many of which do not pay any taxes at all, just to begin to pay their fair share,” Biden said.

Asked by a reporter how he plans to overcome GOP resistance on Capitol Hill, Biden suggested Republican voters will be inclined to support his proposed multitrillion dollar investment.

“I think the Republican voters are going to have a lot to say about whether we get a lot of this done,” he said.