April’s job numbers are out, and the month saw more jobs added than any month since the crash. In total, 244,000 jobs were added to the economy, which sounds great, but is tempered by the fact that unemployment returned to nine percent after dipping to 8.8 percent last month. That rate has consistently been nearly twice as high for workers of color.

The rise is due to the fact that more people are searching for jobs again, and as the economy adds jobs, this trend will continue.

But the GOP is on the case, with its own jobs plan, that, well, isn’t anything you haven’t already heard before. To wit, Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, lower taxes on the rich, encourage offshore oil drilling, and reduce spending on those in need.

Rob Portman, the Ohio Republican senator who introduced the plan, said, "This is a pro-growth, pro-jobs plan that will create the environment necessary to get Americans back to work and ensure that American businesses are competitive globally."

But The Nation questions whether or not the same old austerity measures, reduced regulation, and lowered taxes will have any effect on jobs at all. On spending reduction as a means for job creation, George Zornick writes:

Slashing federal spending often has the exact opposite affect–countries like Ireland, Latvia, and Estonia enacted steep spending cuts in the recent global downturn, and each saw subsequent slumps in output and employment.

Republicans are playing a game where repackaging stale ideas passes for a jobs plan.