U.S. Sen. Rick Scott fulminated Friday about the latest lackluster job numbers, contending that part of the problem is "able-bodied adults" aren't working because of unemployment benefits.

"Is anyone surprised that when you spend months paying able bodied adults more to stay home than go back to work that folks aren't getting back on the job? NO. Is anyone shocked that when Biden pushes billions and billions of 'free' money to able-bodied adults that folks aren't getting back to work? NO," Scott said in a statement from his Senate office entitled "Joe Biden is pushing America over a cliff."

Scott's statement came as Friday's September jobs numbers report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showed just 194,000 new jobs.

But the Senator's position is nothing new. Dating back almost to the infancy of the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott warned that people not working and still getting paid represented a "big problem" for policy makers.

"If given the chance to make more on a government program than in a job, some will make the rational and reasonable decision to delay going back to work, hampering our economic recovery," Scott tweeted in April 2020.

He objected then to federal unemployment payments to supplement those from the state, contending that such programs mean "workers could make more money by not working than they would make if they had a job," Scott wrote for Fox News.

"Most families in this country survive by not being wasteful, but by clipping coupons, by buying necessities when they are on sale, by cutting their own grass and by reusing aluminum foil," Scott added.

While Scott blames government intervention for slowing job growth, President Joe Biden takes a different tack, saying that COVID-19 and not the response itself is the issue with the still-lagging jobs market.

"Today's report has the unemployment rate down to 4.8%, a significant improvement from when I took office and a sign that our recovery is moving forward even in the face of a (COVID-19) pandemic," Biden said Friday at the White House.

But Scott clearly doesn't buy it, if his statement Friday is any indication.

"We have 11 MILLION job openings in this country… there's no excuse for the job numbers we are seeing from this administration outside of pure stupidity," Scott said.

The Senator is in campaign mode this weekend. He is headed to Fort Wayne, Indiana for a dinner for a county Republican Party Friday night, supporting Senate colleague Todd Young.

Hoosier Republicans should not be surprised if they hear a variation on this theme from Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee through the 2022 elections.