Politics

Gingrich contrasts GOP field with Obama: ‘We actually think work is good’

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At Monday evening’s GOP primary debate hosted by Fox News, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich argued that unemployment benefits should come with more responsibility on the part of the unemployed.

“All unemployment compensation should be tied to a job training requirement,” Gingrich said. “If somebody cannot find a job and they show up and they say, ‘You know, I need help,’ the help we ought to give them is to get them connected to a business run training program to acquire the skills to be employable.” (RELATED: Full coverage of Newt Gingrich’s campaign)

According to Gingrich, the 99-week maximum that citizens can receive unemployment insurance payments is ample time to gain marketable skills.

“The fact is, 99 weeks is an associate degree,” he noted to cheers from the South Carolina audience. “I hope my four colleagues would agree here. It tells you everything you need to know about the difference between Barack Obama and the five of us.”

That difference, Gingrich said, is a belief in personal responsibility.

“We actually think work is good,” Gingrich added. “We actually think saying, ‘I’ll help you if you are willing to help yourself,’ is good. And we think unconditional efforts by the best food stamp president in American history, to maximize dependency, is terrible for this country.”

The national unemployment rate currently stands at 8.5 percent.

Watch:

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