Kristi Noem Weekly Republican GOP Address Pitches GOP Jobs Plan as Gift for Moms & College Grads 05/12/12 TEXT PODCAST VIDEO

Summary: Kristi Noem Weekly Republican GOP Address Pitches GOP Jobs Plan as Gift for Moms & College Grads 05/12/12 TEXT PODCAST VIDEO - DOWNLOAD MP3 for PODCAST || Download Video .mpeg4 || Washington (May 11) - Delivering the Weekly Republican Address on Mother’s Day weekend, Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) says that in the wake of last week’s disappointing unemployment report, Republicans continue to focus on the economy and the pro-growth Plan for America’s Job Creators. Rep. Noem notes that President Obama is “ignoring the tough choices and trying to distract from the real issues,” pointing to his recent politicization of women’s health and student loan rates. Rep. Noem, who received her bachelor’s degree last weekend, highlights how more than half of young college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed due to policies like the president’s health care law that make it harder to hire new workers. “If the president is truly serious about doing what’s best for women, young people, and all Americans,” Rep. Noem says, he should work with Republicans to help get our economy back on track. FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT: “Hello, I’m Kristi Noem from the great state of South Dakota. I’m a proud wife, mother, rancher, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. Last week, I took on another title, ‘college graduate.’ When I was 22, I had to leave school to help run our family farming and ranching operation after my dad died in an accident on our farm. After many years, I returned to school in 2008, and was grateful to walk across the stage at South Dakota State University last Saturday with my political science degree in hand. “Commencements are happy occasions, of course, but I couldn’t help but think about the challenges that this year’s graduates will face. Last week’s disappointing unemployment figures were a sobering reminder that our economy continues to struggle. Over half of the recent college graduates cannot get a job in President Obama’s economy. One of the reasons is that policies like the president’s health care law, they make our economy worse by making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers. “The president claims to be leading us ‘forward’ but his policies have us stuck. Instead of working with Republicans to rebuild the economy, the president is ignoring the tough choices and trying to distract from the real issues. “When the House recently passed legislation to prevent student loan rates from doubling, the president falsely claimed that by targeting an ObamaCare slush fund to pay for our fix, that Republicans were slashing support for women’s health. Independent news organizations quickly debunked these allegations. What’s more, the president has twice cut money from this very same slush fund, most recently in his own budget. This is just further proof that he is politicizing this issue to distract the American people. “The challenges young people and women face in this economy need to be addressed, not exploited for political gain. Like any mother, I want to know our kids and grandkids will have even greater opportunities than we had, and that the free and prosperous America that we grew up in is still going to be there for them. “That’s why Republicans are focused – we’re focused on helping put Americans back to work through our ‘Plan for America’s Job Creators.’ In the House, we’ve passed several ‘all of the above’ energy bills to address high gas prices and help create jobs. We’ve passed a budget to lift the crushing burden of debt that’s hurting our economy and is threatening our future. We’ve passed small business tax cuts and bills reining in red tape so we can get government out of the private sector’s way. All told, more than two dozen House-passed jobs bills are awaiting action in the Democratic-controlled Senate. If the president is truly serious about doing what’s best for women, young people – and all Americans – working on these jobs bills should be our focus. “One of the main reasons I