[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 20, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H7]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            JOBS AND ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, in April 2003, the Bush 
administration pledged that its jobs and growth package, its Leave No 
Millionaire Behind Tax Cut Plan, would create 1,836,000 new jobs by the 
end of 2003, last month. The administration pledged to create 5.5 
million new jobs this year in 2004; but as the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics reported this month, the economy had a grand total of 1,000 
jobs in December. To begin reversing unemployment trends, there would 
need to be 250,000 new jobs each month.
  More than 2.3 million jobs have been lost since President Bush took 
office, Mr. Speaker. More than 2.3 million jobs. In my State of Ohio, 
one out of six manufacturing jobs has disappeared, one out of six, and 
most of them permanently. Despite recent good news for corporate 
profits and the trumpeting of the Bush administration on economic 
growth statistics, the labor market is still in crisis; and we have 
seen the worst job loss in a recovery since Herbert Hoover in the Great 
Depression. But for some reason, I guess political reasons, the 
administration calls the economy strong.
  Long-term unemployment is close to a 20-year high. Currently, the 
average length of unemployment is 5 months. While the administration 
has touted macroeconomic GDP growth numbers, indicators most important 
to middle class Americans just simply are not so bright. Simply put, 
high-paying jobs, industrial, manufacturing jobs are being replaced by 
low-paying jobs like Wal-Mart. New jobs created are forecast to pay an 
average of $35,000, much lower than the $43,000 average pay of jobs 
lost in the last 3 years.
  The Bush administration now is deploying an executive agency to 
shortchange average workers, this time on overtime pay. The Department 
of Labor's publishing documents ``suggest ways that employers can avoid 
paying overtime to some of the $1.3 million low-income workers who 
would become eligible this year.'' Think about that, a Federal agency 
is giving advice to employers on how to avoid paying overtime to some 
of its lowest-paid workers. Think about that. Among the options for 
employers would be to cut workers' hourly wages and add the overtime to 
equal the original salary.
  This is part of an emerging pattern of using U.S. taxpayer resources 
to help big business, to help them cut corners at the expense of 
American jobs and American workers. The Labor Department's corporate 
assistance documents, as we call them, come just as the administration 
plans to eliminate overtime pay protection to 8 million American 
workers. The overtime plan was opposed by both conservative and 
progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The Department of Labor's 
mission statement describes itself as the primary agency to ``promote 
the welfare of job seekers and wage earners.''
  The Department of Labor was established to represent the interest of 
average workers, not the interest of corporate contributors to the 
President. Not Enron. Not Halliburton. The Department of Labor is there 
to represent average everyday salaried and hourly workers. The 
Department of Labor now seems to represent corporations at the expense 
of American workers.
  The consequences of the Bush administration's policies for 
hardworking Americans are clear: first, the greatest job loss in a 
recovery since the Great Depression; 2.5 million jobs have been lost in 
the past 2\1/2\ years. Second, massive deficits to pass on to our 
children. The administration came into office with a huge budget 
surplus. It has been squandered. We now have an annual deficit of $500 
billion. That means that every day of the year about $1.5 billion more 
is paid out by the government than is brought in. The President has 
added $1.5 billion every day to the national debt that our children 
will pay. This collapse of fiscal discipline will lead to a $5 trillion 
debt over the next decade. That is $5 trillion more for our children 
and our grandchildren to pay.
  The third result of the Bush administration's policy for working 
Americans is the rising numbers of uninsured and increasing health care 
costs for working Americans. There are 43 million Americans lacking 
basic health insurance today, with 4 million more Americans who do not 
have health insurance than those that had it when he took office. There 
were 39 million uninsured when President Bush took office; now it is up 
to 43 million, and it is climbing as we lose more industrial jobs, jobs 
replaced by low-benefit, low-wage jobs instead.
  This administration is steering the country down the path of fiscal 
ruin for the benefit of a wealthy few. It is time to right our course. 
When we see the statistics over Christmas that the high-end stores like 
Neiman Marcus stores did very well, and regular stores catering to 
ordinary average Americans did not do so very well, that tells the 
story. The wealthier in this country are getting wealthier and 
wealthier, while the middle class is shrinking. Poor people are doing 
worse than ever. It is time to redirect this country.

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