As jobs woes rise, candidates trumpet economic policies

Updated with comments from DNC, RNC
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John McCain and Barack Obama agree on one thing -- the latest negative jobs report calls for action.

On the eve of the country's Independence Day, the Labor Department unleashed statistics showing that employers cut payrolls by 62,000 in June, marking the sixth straight month of nationwide job losses.

McCain advocated tax relief, lower costs, and innovation to point the economy in the right direction:

"To get our economy back on track, we must enact a jobs-first economic plan that supports job creation, provide immediate tax relief for families, enact a plan to help those facing foreclosure, lower health care costs, invest in innovation, move toward strategic energy independence and open more foreign markets to our goods.

"The American people cannot afford an economic agenda that will take our country in the wrong direction and cost jobs. At a time when our small businesses need support from Washington, we cannot raise taxes, increase regulation and isolate ourselves from foreign markets. These are the same old siren songs that have failed the American people time and time again."

Obama called for immediate action, urging the government to help struggling families with heating and housing costs:

"I'm calling on Congress and the President to enact real, immediate relief with energy rebates for working families this summer, a fund to help families avoid foreclosure, extended benefits for the long-term jobless, and assistance to states that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn."

The presumptive Democratic nominee also took the opportunity to blast McCain, linking his Republican rival to the economic crisis:

"The American people are paying the price for the failed economic policies of the past eight years, and we can't afford four more years of more of the same. That is the essential issue of this campaign because Senator McCain has fully embraced the Bush economic agenda. I believe it has to change."

UPDATE: The Democratic National Committee took it a step farther, attacking McCain for being out of the country when the jobs report came out:

"In an out of touch moment for the ages - on the same day the Labor Department announced the sixth consecutive month of job losses - and while McCain is in MEXICO where scores of American jobs have fled under NAFTA - the McCain campaign is promoting its "Jobs First" plan. Maybe the "first" thing McCain should do to reverse the job losses Americans are suffering under Bush economic policies is to reject those policies instead of vowing to double down on them (and maybe for his own sake he should stop going to places like Michigan and telling folks their jobs aren't coming back while going to Mexico and promoting Jobs First - just a thought).

McCain wraps up his three-day visit to Latin America in Mexico City this morning, where he plans to meet with President Felipe Calderon to discuss immigration and trade.

UPDATE: The Republican National Committee, in turn, hit back at Obama, contends his March Senate vote on the 2009 budget would increase taxes for some Americans making as little as $32,000 per year.

"We need more jobs, not more taxes," said RNC spokesperson Alex Conant. "Americans cannot afford an agenda that raises taxes and costs jobs."