[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H897-H898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        JOBS, ECONOMY, AND TAXES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, it has been said by some that the American 
economy is in chaos and decline. I come to the floor today to counter 
such nonsense with the facts. After the shocks of the recession and the 
tragedy of 9/11, the economy has experienced 60 consecutive months of 
job growth and during that time has added a total of 364,000 new jobs 
to the economy. In point of fact, the unemployment rate is currently 
lower, lower than the average unemployment rate during the 1970s, the 
1980s and even the 1990s.
  Since 2001, the U.S. economy has grown more than twice as fast as the 
economies of Europe and Japan. Our economy is in better shape and 
growing faster than any member of the G-7 group of industrialized 
nations. America is the largest exporter in the world and the main 
source of economic growth in the world. Productivity growing at 4.1 
percent annually over the last 3 years is at an historic high. The 
economy is expected to grow faster from 2003 to 2004 than any other 
year in the last 20.
  Mr. Speaker, the number of Americans working today stands at 138.3 
million, the highest number in the history of this Nation, higher even 
than the number of Americans who were working in January of 2001. And 
most Americans are prospering like they never have before, with family 
net worth hitting a record high of $44.4 trillion. This is in part 
because the home ownership rate stands at 68.5 percent also an historic 
high.
  I cite these figures not because I believe there is nothing that can 
or should be done to further promote economic growth and job creation, 
but instead, to provide some perspective on how the media and the other 
side of the aisle are misrepresenting and misportraying the facts 
concerning the state of our economy.
  Mr. Speaker, the truth is most Americans are not fond of the 
pointless debate over when the recent recession began or who was 
responsible for it. This debate does nothing to lower the unemployment 
rate. It is an exercise in political histrionics.
  We are now experiencing economic recovery and that is something most 
Americans do care about. What matters to them is how to maintain and 
sustain and expand that recovery. To sustain this recovery, I believe 
we need to simplify the Tax Code. We need to reduce the burden of 
frivolous lawsuits on our economy. We need to pass an energy bill to 
ensure an affordable and reliable energy supply. We need to streamline 
regulations and paperwork

[[Page H898]]

requirements on small businesses that are the driving force for job 
creation in this country. And we need to reduce the deficit.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress is beginning the effort to tackle the budget 
deficit, which I believe has been primarily caused by out-of-control 
spending and should be solved by controlling the growth in spending. We 
could balance the Federal budget within 5 years if we held increases in 
Federal spending to 2 percent a year. Inside the Beltway I know, to 
some that is an unthinkable sacrifice, but how many families, how many 
businesses had to limit their spending by similar amounts during the 
last few years? What we must not do is pass legislation that would make 
this economic recovery come to an abrupt halt.
  We should not take the easy way out of our budget problem by raising 
taxes. The tax cuts for families and small businesses created this 
economic recovery and raising taxes would put the breaks on this 
economic recovery.

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