Bills suggests recent unemployment numbers were cooked
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills held a news conference to criticize DFL Sen, Amy Klobuchar for failing to adequately address the federal deficit. During the 30 minute news conference, Bills said Klobuchar should have shown more leadership on solving the budget crisis facing the nation.
Bills also joined a chorus of conservatives who are questioning the legitimacy of the recent job numbers. Bills said it was "suspicious" when asked whether he thought the Bureau of Labor Statistics adjusted the monthly unemployment report to help President Obama's re-election effort.
"What statisticians do is what statisticians do, but I find it very curious that it dropped when it did and it's a .3 percent drop," Bills told reporters.
The report last week showed a sharp drop in unemployment to 7.8 percent.
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Labor Secretary Hilda Solis called the notion that the numbers were cooked "ludicrous."
Keith Hall, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, also dismissed the allegations.
"People shouldn't think at all there is any bias in the numbers," Hall told McClatchy. "This data is collected and examined by each state. . . . Hundreds of people at BLS help collect this data and compile it. If you wanted to try to mess with these numbers, you are talking a very difficult thing. It almost certainly would . . . be next to impossible."
You can listen to Bills' entire news conference here: