Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 03/05/10

By: tomgrisafi

The new unemployment rate isn't out for a few more hours, but it's already the subject of dispute between the Obama White House and congressional Republicans.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers told CNBC this week that the heavy snowstorms last month may well drive up the unemployment rate, now at 9.7 percent.

"The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics," Summers told CNBC this week. "So it's going to be very important ... to look past whatever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trends."

At his briefing Thursday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he expected the new jobs to reflect "the unintended effects of weather on the economy."

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio put out a report from an economic adviser challenging Summers' assessment.

He wrote that if the unemployment rate rises, "it will be because of the continued uncertain direction of economic policy -- including the possibility of tax increases, high deficits, environmental regulation, and expensive health care reform -- and not because of the weather."

Whatever the new rate, President Obama plans to discuss his jobs plans today.

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