Since 2008, voters from across the political spectrum have looked to both Democrats and Republicans to end the economic downturn and build a better job market. But both parties have failed. Now the unemployment rate sits at 9.2 percent and Washington has yet to craft a legislative program that gives voters the jobs they’ve been asking for.

On her Sound Off segment on MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry argues that the debt deal will only make it more difficult for the federal government to foster the economic recovery the American people so desperately want.

—Kevin Donohoe