[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 125 (Thursday, September 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1601-E1602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE PRESIDENT'S ECONOMIC POLICIES ARE WORKING

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 12, 1996

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, this past Saturday, former Senator Dole, 
now the Republican candidate for President, said in his radio address:

       The Congressional Joint Economic Committee reports that 
     last year 66 countries had economic growth rates that 
     surpassed ours. The president may think that when it comes to 
     economic growth, 67th place is good enough, but I do not. I 
     want America to lead the world again in terms of economic 
     growth, rising incomes, and greater job opportunities.

  As a member of the Joint Economic Committee, I want Mr. Dole to know 
what my side of the committee thinks. In building his bridge to 
America's past, Mr. Dole must have overlooked the present. Just look at 
the good news about the economy that came out in the 2 weeks before he 
spoke. One week before his speech, the Commerce Department's Bureau of 
Economic Analysis revised the second quarter growth rate of the Gross 
Domestic Product upward to 4.8 percent. Exports and business investment 
showed strong upward movement.
  Tuesday, before he spoke, the Conference Board reported the index of 
leading economic indicators, which projects the economy's health for 
the next 6 to 9 months, reached a record high.
  And last Friday, before the Joint Economic Committee, the 
Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 250,000 
jobs were created last month. This builds, on the nearly 200,000 jobs 
we created in July, and on the 10.5 million in the President's first 
3\1/2\ years in office.
  A report in the June issue of the Monthly Labor Review, which the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes, showed that between 1993 and 
1995, jobs in relatively higher-earning occupations and industries grew 
at almost twice the rate as jobs in comparatively lower-earning 
occupations and industries.
  In August, the share of women with jobs reached a record high of 57.2 
percent--the highest employment record for women in our Nation's 
history. In part, this is a result of changes in the Earned Income Tax 
Credit that lowered the taxes for most single mothers, and therefore 
made work more desirable. A Democratic-controlled Congress passed that 
tax cut without a single Republican vote. And part of the good labor 
market outcome for women is a result of the Family and Medical Leave 
Act signed by President Clinton after President Bush stalled its 
passage. That act made sure a woman would not have to choose between 
having a job and taking care of a sick child.
  Mr. Dole promises fiscal responsibility. However, look at the record 
we Democrats have delivered. Before leaving office in 1993, President 
Bush's Council of Economic Advisers left

[[Page E1602]]

an economic report for the President. In it, they forecasted how well 
the economy would perform, and what size the size of the Federal budget 
deficit would be following President Bush's economic program.
  Their most optimistic forecast was for the deficit to be $201 billion 
in 1996. Under President Clinton's leadership, the Congressional Budget 
Office projects the deficit to be $116 billion in 1996. That's $85 
billion less than the rosiest projection President Bush promised. And 
remember there was not one single Republican vote for the President 
Clinton deficit reduction plan.
  After 3\1/2\ years under President Clinton, we have the lowest 
combined rates of unemployment, inflation, and mortgage rates since the 
1960's--which is the biggest tax cut of all for working Americans and 
retirees on fixed incomes.
  And the listen to the words of Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the 
Federal Reserve Board. Testifying before the Joint Economic Committee 
in January 1994, Dr. Greenspan clearly stated what he felt was the 
cause of the speedup in economic growth:

       The actions last year to reduce the federal budget deficit 
     have been instrumental in creating the basis for declining 
     inflation expectations and easing pressures on long-term 
     interest rates. . . . What I argued at the time is that the 
     purpose of getting a lower budget deficit was essentially to 
     improve the long-term outlook, and that if the deficit 
     reduction is credible, then the long-term outlook gets 
     discounted up-front. Indeed, that is precisely what is 
     happening . . . . I think a substantial part of the 
     improvement in economic activity and the low rates of 
     inflation can be directly related to a changing financial 
     expectation that we might finally be coming to grips with 
     this very severe problem.

  That was in 1994. He is not crediting shutting down the Government, 
and holding needed Government services hostage to unfair budget deals, 
for making financial markets believe that new and better fiscal 
management was finally in place. Dr. Greenspan was crediting the 
President's 1993 budget plan with the substantial part of the 
improvement in economic activity and the low rates of inflation.
  While the rest of America that is experiencing steady job growth, 
increased consumer confidence, and a Federal deficit that has been cut 
in half, Mr. Dole is contending that he has policies that would have 
made the economy perform even better. What are these new ideas? In 
fact, they are not new at all: they are the same policies that 
ballooned our deficits in the first place. Except for the interest on 
the debt created during the Reagan and Bush years, our current budget 
would be running a surplus. So as for retreading these failed policies 
of the 1980's, in the language of the new generation: ``Been there, 
done that, don't want to go there again.''

  Still, Mr. Dole promises growth that could generate more jobs. Again, 
look at the record. President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers 
predicted that, following President Bush's economic policies, the 
unemployment rate would be 6.2 percent in 1994 and 5.7 percent in 1995. 
President Clinton's policies delivered actual unemployment rates of 6.1 
percent in 1994 and 5.6 percent in 1995. And while the Bush 
administration was going to be satisfied with an average unemployment 
rate of 5.4 percent in 1996, we have already lowered unemployment this 
year to 5.1 percent.
  Americans want to see wages and take-home pay rise. Since January 
1993, we at least have seen the 12-year decline in real wages come to a 
halt. We Democrats fought to lower the tax burden of low-income, 
working families by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, and 
raising the wages of low-income workers from the 40-year low in terms 
of purchasing power that they were experiencing through passage of a 
minimum wage hike. It was only fair. It was a hard fight. But we 
Democrats never gave up, and the Republicans finally caved in.
  I am proud of the economic record we Democrats have accomplished in 
the last 4 years. We still have a great deal more to do, but Americans 
now know we are on the right track. As President Clinton says, we must 
build a bridge to the future. It is not a toll bridge because it will 
be a bridge paid for by careful planning. We don't need a bridge to the 
past, built with IOU's and growing deficits that mortgage our future. 
We don't need to go back to slow job growth, and fewer opportunities. 
We need to look forward.

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