[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 81 (Monday, June 14, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3938-H3945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MORNING AGAIN IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Garrett of New Jersey). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Hensarling) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
majority leader.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I need not state that last week was a 
very, very trying, yet very moving week for many Americans because we 
said goodbye to one of the greatest Presidents I believe in the history 
of America, and certainly one of the greatest that I have known in my 
life time, President Reagan. And I think many Americans recall so much 
about the President, about how he loved freedom and how optimistic he 
was.
  There is a phrase that many people associated with President Reagan 
when he ran for reelection in 1984, and that phrase was, It is morning 
again in America.
  Well, America has faced a significant economic challenge over the 
last several years, and that is we have faced a recession. Many people 
have been hurt by this recession and jobs were lost and businesses were 
padlocked. But I have to tell you, we have come out of the darkness. We 
are coming into the light. When we look the at our national economy, 
again it is morning in America.
  One of the proudest days I have had as a Member of United States 
Congress was the day that I signed my name, co-authored President 
Bush's economic growth program. Now, that was a program that was all 
about tax relief, tax relief for American families, tax relief for 
small businesses, because we know that when you let families and 
businesses, the American people keep more of what they earn, they will 
roll up their sleeves. They will work hard. They will create new 
businesses. They will go out and open an automobile transmission shop 
on one street corner. They will open a barbecue stand on another 
corner. They will expand a mobile home business two blocks away.

[[Page H3939]]

  Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we see in America today.
  Now, many in this body want to debate who is to blame for the 
recession. Well, I can tell you there have been many, many recessions 
in the history of America. And I wish there was something we could do 
in this body to outlaw recessions but we cannot. But we do know that 
besides the obvious and huge loss of human life on 9/11, what a blow it 
was to our economy, in the trillions of dollars; not no to mention the 
stock market, the high tech bubble being burst, the corporate scandals. 
There are a whole lot of reasons. And we could play a blame game here 
between the Republicans and the Democrats, but I do not think that is 
what the American people sent us to Washington to do. They sent us here 
to work together and solve problems.
  Mr. Speaker, in working with the President we have been able to solve 
a lot of these problems. If you look at where our economy is today, it 
is just a fantastic recovery that is under way. We are enjoying right 
now the highest economic growth that we have enjoyed in 20 years. In 
over 20 years we are seeing the highest economic growth that we have 
ever seen. And jobs, over a million and a half jobs have now been 
created over the last 9 months, in a blistering pace in the last 
several months, all due to President Bush's economic growth program.
  Homeownership, the great American dream of homeownership, 
homeownership is at an all-time high. More Americans own their own 
homes than ever in the history of the United States of America.
  Mr. Speaker, we are talking about the explosive job growth that we 
have had in our economy, a million and a half jobs in just the last 9 
months, people all over America being able to go back to work because 
of the President's economic growth program.
  The stock market is up 20, 25 percent off of its lows, which is so 
important for so many people that have 401(k) plans that they have to 
plan for their retirement, and there is so much other good news.
  We have other Members that are here to discuss that and how it 
relates to their congressional districts. Mr. Speaker, at this time I 
yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), to discuss this 
further.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Texas and 
congratulate him on claiming this time during special orders to 
celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the Jobs and Growth Act of 2003. I 
am also pleased that the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito) 
will join us shortly as she is prepared to make remarks on the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the comments of the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Hensarling). He spoke of changes in the economic indicators. He 
spoke of what has transpired in the stock market. And certainly we 
understand and we should point out what is going on on Wall Street, but 
in the final analysis, Mr. Speaker, yes, Wall Street is important but 
likewise so is Main Street.
  What is happening on the main economic thoroughfare of your town, and 
more importantly, what is happening, Mr. Speaker, in the homes in your 
neighborhood? It is interesting as we take a look at our efforts to 
embrace a pro-growth economic agenda centered on this one basic truth 
that the money that comes into the government via taxation does not 
belong to the government. It belongs to the people. And when we allege 
how the people can keep more of their hard earned money to save, spend 
and invest for themselves, it helps all of us. We can offer many 
historical examples.

  Indeed, last week we celebrated the life of our 40th President, 
Ronald Reagan, who embraced that philosophy; but to be candid, Mr. 
Speaker, it is not exclusively partisan. Indeed, we look back to the 
1960s and the efforts of late President John F. Kennedy who in asking 
for reduction in taxation across the board was heard to say, A rising 
tide lifts all boats. Everyone has, everyone has a chance to benefit. 
And certainly we can see what has happened on Wall Street, on Main 
Street, but most importantly, Mr. Speaker, what has happened on your 
street: 111 million individuals and families receive an average tax 
reduction of $1,586; 49 million married couples get an average tax 
reduction of $2,602; 43 million families with children, an average tax 
cut in excess of $2,000; 14 million of our seniors will see their taxes 
fall on average by $1,883; and 25 million small business owners, Mr. 
Speaker, if I could, I know it is really not a parliamentary inquiry. I 
do not need to ask unanimous consent but I think we all could agree, 
the term ``small business,'' Mr. Speaker, is almost an inaccurate term. 
It is essential business. So-called ``small businesses'' are the very 
backbone of economic enterprise in this country. They supply more jobs 
than all the major corporations put together. Small businesses on your 
street do that. And 25 million small business owners will see an 
average tax reduction of $3,000 plus.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, there are cynics in this city who would say that 
somehow this is not a lot of money. It is interesting, on one hand 
collectively they bemoan the notion that Americans have more of their 
own hard earned money to save, spend and then they turn around almost 
in the same breath and take the opposite tack, well, this does not 
matter much to families.
  Mr. Speaker, I would have to respectfully disagree. Yes, it is true, 
we talk about billions of dollars here in Washington, but think about 
those 43 million families who through the per child tax credit have 
seen their taxes fall in excess of $2,000. Think, Mr. Speaker, what 
$2,000 means in a family budget. Think of what it means as now so many 
schools are out, kids are enjoying time off this summer. Some families 
coming here to Washington, D.C., other families going to visit extended 
family around the country, and more importantly preparing to head back 
to school to make those expenditures necessary. In some houses it could 
mean braces for that middle child. In other houses it could mean a set 
of tires, and still other houses it could be that important family 
vacation.
  But important money, real money to real people is what we talk about 
and what we celebrate. And now tonight at the 1-year mark, the 1-year 
anniversary of the Jobs and Growth Act of 2003, as my colleague from 
Texas has reported, as my friend from West Virginia will join with her 
analysis, we have seen incredible economic growth.
  Mr. Speaker, I look at the almost 1\1/2\ million more payroll jobs, 
1.4 million more payroll jobs in the last 9 months, and it is 
fascinating because the American people, again, when they can invest, 
when business owners can invest, it does create more opportunity. And I 
am reminded by some in the ivory tower, maybe that is why economics is 
called, Mr. Speaker, the dismal science. Maybe that is why it is said, 
you can lay all the economists in the world end to end and never reach 
a conclusion, or by the same token, you can take all the economists in 
the world and lay them end to end and that might be a good thing, 
because away from theory we are seeing legitimate economic fact here.
  There is no disputing that almost a million and a half more payroll 
jobs have been created in the last 9 months. There is no disputing this 
tax relief is helping America's job seekers. There is no disputing this 
tax relief, as I pointed out, is helping the budgets of American 
families. Real disposable income is up almost 4 percent. Household 
wealth, not for the wealthy but household wealth for all families 
across America, a record high of $44 trillion. Housing starts, we 
talked about small business being an indicator, what about what happens 
in terms of building houses in the United States. Housing starts, the 
highest level in 2 decades. At the end of 2003 they remain consistently 
high. Homeownership is record high, 68.6 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, stop and think of that for just a second. The American 
dream of homeownership, the very foundation of so much economic 
planning and dreaming and the aspirations of so many young couples and 
American families, now almost 70 percent of Americans realize the dream 
of owning their own home.

                              {time}  2045

  Consumer confidence, accordingly, is up. Opportunities have 
increased. Manufacturing jobs are up. Indeed, in the last 4 months, 
manufacturing jobs have increased by 91,000, just short of 100,000.
  When we take a look at these numbers and we translate them from the

[[Page H3940]]

black and white numbers on a page and we realize that this is helping 
real people and real families, we can hardly wait to see the other 
reports that will be forthcoming because we understand this simple 
fact. Again, it is not partisan but it is imminently practical.
  Would Americans keep more of their own money and save, spend and 
invest it for themselves? Economic activity increases. We have seen 
great strides in productivity, and we understand this simple fact. From 
our history and in practice, what we are seeing today, that through 
this economic expansion, through this growth and opportunity, people 
are realizing the American dream of homeownership. They are taking 
advantage of opportunities to provide for their families, and as this 
continues and as we see this economic expansion, something that some of 
our friends who come to this Chamber seem to want to deny, although it 
has been an historical fact, we know that the increased economic 
activity in the long term actually creates more revenue for the 
government. There is actually an increase in taxable receipts that 
comes from economic activity.
  So rather than succumbing to the cynical and shopworn phrases that 
tax relief only helps one sector of our economy, rather than abandon 
reality for the poisonous rhetoric that would set one American against 
another, we would do well tonight, Mr. Speaker, in recognizing this 1-
year anniversary to take a look at the historical examples of 
Presidents Kennedy and Reagan and take a look at the current events and 
the current evidence, that the common sense, pro-growth agenda, pro-
economic agenda, developed by this President and this congressional 
majority is helping real people find real work and real opportunity.
  Mr. Speaker, we continue in markup in the Committee on Ways and Means 
to find yet other ways to spur economic growth. As that continues in 
the Committee on Ways and Means, I just wanted to take time out from 
those proceedings to come here to the floor to thank my colleagues, 
especially the gentleman from Texas, for claiming this one hour of 
time, Mr. Speaker, to report to the American people and to reaffirm 
what so many of them are seeing both in their own lives, in their own 
homes and on their own street.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona for 
making time to come down this evening to the floor to discuss the 
wonderful news that we have had as we talk about the 1-year anniversary 
of the Jobs and Growth Act of 2003, and obviously there is so much good 
news to be had in Texas and Arizona and all the other States around the 
Nation, but there is still work to be done.
  At this time, I yield to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. 
Capito), one of the great pro-growth leaders in the Congress, somebody 
who has made a real difference for West Virginia.
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from 
Texas for yielding to me and for working with us on this hour to talk 
to the Nation about the good news that we have on our economic front.
  I have been here almost 4 years now, and for some reason good news 
seems to get buried a lot, and it is deeply concerning to me when we 
are talking about something as critically important as our Nation's 
economy, people working, families. So I think it is extremely important 
for all of us to give a good viewpoint to our Nation on how our Nation 
is moving in the right direction.
  I would like to talk about my home State of West Virginia. Many times 
in terms of economics, West Virginia has had difficulty with our State 
economy. We have not moved with the rest of the Nation when the rest of 
the Nation is surging economically. We have sort of puttered along a 
little bit, and so in my home State people will say to me, Shelley, I 
hear that national indicators are good and that we are creating 1.4 
million new job with President Bush's programs, but what is happening 
in West Virginia? Is that really occurring in West Virginia? The great 
news is, yes, it is.
  The indications today were just brought out by the State Department 
of Employment Programs. It announced today that in the month of May we 
saw the largest period of job growth this year, 4,400 new jobs created 
in the State of West Virginia in May. Our unemployment rate, which has 
been steadily below the Nation's unemployment, dropped another 3/10ths 
of a point to 5.2 percent. These are not happenstance. This is not just 
a blip in the radar screen. This is a constant indication that the 
economics of West Virginia are improving, just as the economics of the 
Nation are growing and thriving.
  Being home last weekend, I talked to many folks, miners, realtors, 
bankers, schoolteachers, truck drivers: How is business? How is it 
going? Every single one of them has a positive, uplifting message to 
give. They are either hiring more people, ordering new parts, or 
increasing their equipment, all the things that are the great 
indicators of economic growth. The tax savings in West Virginia is 
being reinvested, just as the President's Jobs and Growth Act had 
planned, and new workers are being hired.
  There are also other good signs. Not only is West Virginia being 
included in the upturn of the Nation's economy and settling into new 
jobs, but other things are occurring, and I think it is important to be 
pointed out.
  We have heard about outsourcing and we are all concerned about any 
job that leaves an American shore and goes across the sea where we want 
to keep that job on our shores, but in West Virginia interestingly one 
in five of our manufacturing jobs in West Virginia, they are working 
for a foreign-based company. Those jobs have been in-sourced to the 
State of West Virginia, and I think that is over 27,000 workers in the 
State of West Virginia are in that position.
  The pride of Buffalo, West Virginia, which is in my District, is the 
Toyota manufacturing plant where over 1,000 West Virginians build the 
engines that are in the Toyota Camrys that are parked in our driveways, 
and can my colleagues imagine the impact that 1,000 of those 
manufacturing jobs in a small area such as Buffalo, West Virginia, has 
on the total economy of that location and that area and region of our 
State?
  We also saw personal income rise in the latter part of 2003 to a 
total of $44.7 billion, and that is one of the highest numbers ever 
reported in the State of West Virginia. Our exports have increased by 
over $100 million. Personal tax collections are forecast to increase by 
3.1 percent this coming year. That is an indication that more people 
are working. They are working at higher salary levels, and they are 
enjoying the prosperity a boom economy can provide, and the prosperity 
the Jobs and Growth Act of 2003 that President Bush put forth is 
working.
  We also have many in West Virginia who are enjoying the tax benefits 
that were a part of that on an individual basis. We have several 
hundreds of thousands who are enjoying the marriage tax penalty: 
400,000 individuals paying fewer taxes; and over 100,000 small 
businesses enjoying the tax relief that was so vitally important to 
jump-starting this economy and moving it in the right direction.
  So, while we always seem to want to have the gloom and doom news take 
the headlines, I think it is time that the Americans see the headlines 
that are the reality of our economy here in the United States, and that 
is we are moving in the right direction. There is more work to be done, 
and States like West Virginia are feeling the impact, are being able to 
take hold of the movement and the surge in the economy. More jobs are 
being created, more families are feeling that, and for me to be able to 
say that this Congress, with this President, put these policies into 
place makes me proud to go home every weekend to West Virginia and say 
we are moving in the right direction. We are going to keep up the 
momentum, and things are on the rise.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for granting me the 
time.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments 
and how enlightening they were to enlighten us about what is going on 
in the State of West Virginia and how under the Jobs and Growth Act of 
2003, how jobs are being created, how exports are up, how real income 
for families is on the rise so that families can go out and afford to 
spend more money on their education programs, their housing programs, 
their nutritional programs.

[[Page H3941]]

  Although there is much work to be done, all this great progress was 
made possible by an act that at its core was all about tax relief, tax 
relief for small businesses, tax relief for American families, and Mr. 
Speaker, as my colleagues know, in the House of Representatives, that 
means that tax relief comes through our Committee on the Ways and 
Means. One of the great leaders of that committee, one of the pro-
growth leaders in the United States Congress, is here to share his 
thoughts with us, and I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman).
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Texas. I thank 
him for leading this Special Order tonight and for all the good 
information he has been providing. I also thank my colleague from West 
Virginia who just described very well what is going on not just with 
the national economy but also what is happening in her State of West 
Virginia.
  We are not getting the word out about the economy. Most Americans are 
concerned about where our economy is headed. In fact, we have made 
incredible strides. Is there more to do? Of course there is. The tax 
relief, though, helped tremendously.

  I want to talk a little bit about that and then talk about what we 
need to do in the future with regard to health care costs, litigation 
costs, international trade, energy costs to take this economy to even 
greater heights, but things are improving, and we need to acknowledge 
that because it is important to remember what we did that worked and 
what we have done that does not work.
  What we have done that works is, again, letting people keep more of 
their hard-earned money, increasing small business investment, helping 
people around this country to be able to find opportunity.
  This first chart shows the fact that over the last several months we 
have had incredible job growth. In fact, in the last 9 months alone we 
have created over 1.4 million jobs in this country. Government did not 
create those jobs, but government does play a role in creating the 
environment to create those jobs, and again, the tax relief was 
absolutely crucial to that.
  Job growth is key but job growth only comes with economic growth. 
This shows the GDP growth which is a measure of all the goods and 
services in the economy, and as we can see we are now at 4.4 percent in 
the first quarter of 2004. Projections are into 2005 we are going to 
see sustained growth and a kind of growth that will be able to not only 
keep this economy strong but even with high productivity be sure we 
have real job growth in this country.
  As this job creation is surging, it is helpful to look at the 
unemployment rate. Right now the unemployment rate is down well below 
the average in the 1990s, which is this dark line. Here we are today: 
5.6 percent is well below not just where we were in the 1990s but also 
below where we were in the 1980s, below where we were in the 1970s.
  So, yes, we have challenges. We have a lot of international 
competition. We need to do more across the board in terms of making it 
more productive to create a job here in this country, but we are making 
good progress, and that unemployment number, coupled with this job 
growth, is incredibly important to the working people of America.
  Some people have said, well, okay, the economy is now growing, that 
is good, and now it is not a jobless recovery. We have got good job 
growth coming back, strong job growth, over 1 million new jobs created 
this year alone, but people's earnings are not as high as they should 
be. Well, I would just point them to this chart.
  Incomes and earnings are up. This is after-tax income, up 4.9 percent 
in the first quarter of this year, a substantial increase. This, again, 
in my view, is largely because of the policies we put in place here, 
and that is why it is important to talk about it.
  Average weekly earnings have increased by 2.5 percent from the same 
period a year ago. People say, well, Rob, that is not wage growth; that 
is just people with big incomes and that is averaged in. Actually, it 
is wage growth. Hourly wages are up. People who are punching a time 
clock, going to work every day, providing the impetus for this economic 
growth are seeing an increase in their take-home wages. That is what 
this is all about after all, making sure that families have more income 
to be able to spend on their needs and it is happening.
  Housing is strong. I think it has been talked about earlier tonight 
and others will talk about it, but housing is an incredibly important 
part of our economy, and it has kept strong actually even through the 
recession we had in 2002, but this housing growth is particularly 
interesting because it is at an all-time high in terms of 
homeownership, all-time high in terms of minority homeownership. This 
is important well beyond the economy. It gives people a stake in their 
communities.

                              {time}  2100

  It allows people to build up an investment in their home. This is 
great news for the long-term economic ownership of our country, that 
people are able to take part in by owning a home.
  The last thing I want to spend just a second on is investment. 
Investment is strong here, and it shows that the President's tax cuts 
have been very effective. This chart shows that investment is up 12\1/
2\ percent in the last 12 months. Over the last four quarters, 
investment is up 12\1/2\ percent. What does that mean? That means we 
are over this bubble.
  Before the recession, people were concerned about overcapacity and 
overinvestment. For the last few years, people have been very concerned 
that there is no new investment going on because we had overbuilding 
and overcapacity. Finally we are over that. Why? I think there are four 
reasons for it.
  One, we reduced the rate of taxation on dividends. Companies are now 
dividending. Record levels of dividends are being reported by 
companies. Seniors really benefit from this. A lot of them have 
investments in companies that issue dividends. That dividend tax cut 
has helped with regard to investors because more investors are getting 
into the market; and that investment is going to expanding plants, 
equipment and creating jobs.
  Second is the capital gains relief. By reducing the capital gains 
rate, as we did, we are encouraging investors to get back in the game, 
and that has happened.
  Third is depreciation. We put into place a bonus depreciation of 50 
percent. We have put into place section 179 depreciation where people 
can write off more of their expenses immediately for small businesses. 
This is incredibly important to small businesses. Small businesses are 
taking advantage of these provisions we put in law. We have to extend 
some of these, and we are debating in the Committee on Ways and Means a 
provision to extend section 179 expensing for small businesses for this 
very reason.
  The final reason I will mention is reduction in the top rate. In 
fact, all of the tax rates that went down, and we were at 39.6 percent, 
then 38 percent, down to 35 percent. People say, gee, and John Kerry 
has said this, this is only to help wealthy individuals. That is not 
the point.
  Mr. Speaker, 83 percent of the people in those tax brackets are 
businesses. What does that mean? Most small businesses in America, 
about 90 percent of them, pay taxes through the individual tax return. 
They are what is called pass-through entities. They are partnerships, 
sole proprietors, LLC companies, subchapter S. The bottom line is those 
businesses pay taxes as an individual; and so when you reduce those 
individual rates, you are getting at the real engine of economic growth 
in this country, which is small businesses. That is exactly what has 
happened.
  I think for those four reasons, reducing the taxes on capital gains; 
reducing the taxes on dividends; reducing taxes across the board; and 
increasing depreciation, we have seen a nice increase in investment. 
That will continue based on all of the economic projections. This leads 
to opportunity because by investing in more equipment and expanding 
plants and jobs, we will have opportunity going forward.
  As I said at the outset, we still have more work to do, and we want 
to do it. Trade is one issue. We have to increase our exports. We are 
starting to see increasing exports as other economies around the world 
are picking up, even though our economy is doing better than any 
industrialized economy in the world. That is incredibly important also 
to our future.

[[Page H3942]]

  I come from Ohio. I heard earlier my colleague from West Virginia 
talking about the West Virginia economy and the struggles they have had 
over the last few years. We have had struggles, too, and we continue 
to. We are a heavy manufacturing State. We are the kind of State that 
has traditionally done very well in areas where the U.S. is not as 
competitive as we once were. We are beginning to make that transition. 
There is more high technology coming in, more financial services jobs, 
and we are doing better.
  But even in Ohio, where we have a struggle with manufacturing jobs, 
we have seen some great numbers over the last several months. We have 
added over 34,000 new jobs to Ohio's economy in the last 9 months 
alone. We have also created 4,300 new jobs in April alone. These are 
not regular jobs; these are good-paying jobs, the kind of jobs you want 
to have going forward with the economic recovery.
  Nearly three-quarters of Ohio's payroll job growth in April, for 
instance, was in industries that pay more than the national average. 
The professional and business services industry comprised the largest 
share of those jobs. Average hourly pay of a job in that industry that 
is nonsupervisory is $17.20 an hour. That is well above the national 
average for nonsupervisory jobs.
  So we are finally adding jobs in Ohio. We are getting these jobs 
back; and now would be exactly the wrong time to change direction and 
raise taxes on small businesses, as has been proposed by John Kerry and 
others.
  Second, unemployment is down in Ohio. We were at 6.2 percent a year 
ago. We are down to 5.8 percent now. Can we do more? Yes. And we must 
do more to be able to bring those jobs back to Ohio. But we have turned 
the corner. We are making progress. Personal incomes are now up in 
Ohio, housing values have increased dramatically in Ohio, and there are 
more exports. Last year, Ohio exports increased over $2 billion. That 
is incredibly important to my district in southwest Ohio and to the 
entire State of Ohio. That brings jobs and opportunity.
  As I said before, we are not done. We have plans to reduce health 
care costs. We plan to get litigation costs under control, which will 
help our entire economy. We have a specific proposal on energy that is 
currently in the United States Senate to reduce the cost of energy and 
make us less dependent on foreign oil.
  Finally, we need to do more in terms of knocking down barriers to our 
trade for exports. But the tax relief we put in place in 2001, 2002, 
and 2003 is working. The economy is back. We need to stay the course. 
We need to continue to be sure that tax relief stays in place so our 
economy stays strong so we have opportunities for America's workers so 
we can compete in this global environment. We are doing it. We can do 
it going forward. We just have to keep the faith.
  To the gentleman from Texas, I appreciate the gentleman allowing me 
to come down and talk about the economy a little bit tonight.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his 
great leadership in ensuring that we did have tax relief for American 
families and small businesses which has ignited this great economic 
recovery that we are seeing from one shore to the other.
  Indeed, there is great news and, indeed, there is still more work to 
be done. We have to make sure that those in Congress who want to take 
the tax relief away, raise taxes on the American people yet again, that 
that policy does not come about in the Halls of the United States House 
of Representatives.
  We are joined tonight by a gentleman from the Committee on Ways and 
Means who was instrumental in ensuring that we pass the Jobs and Growth 
Act of 2003 and will be a key leader in ensuring this tax relief is not 
rolled back.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley).
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Hensarling) for leading this discussion.
  I want to set the predicate for a moment because this Congress and 
this President inherited a very troubled economy. In 1999 when the 
Internet stock bubble burst, there was a tremendous amount of 
sensitivity, if you will, to the economy. People had lost lots of money 
in their savings accounts and IRAs and Keoghs and 401(k)s, and so 
psychologically the economy started heading in a negative manner from 
that point on.
  President Bush inherited a struggling economy; and then we have all 
heard about September 11 and what it did to the investor psychology and 
what it did to the job market and what it did to the economics of 
places like Florida where our tourism market was ravaged. We all 
experienced that, so we are not reliving history; but we have to set 
the predicate about how important the leadership of this White House 
has been in setting in place the kind of economic tools necessary to 
develop what are now very, very hopeful numbers for people around the 
country.
  Florida's jobs have been up. In fact, we have created 29,000 payroll 
jobs in April alone. We now have 168,400 more payroll jobs than a year 
ago. Our economy is adding good-paying jobs. More than two-thirds of 
Florida's payroll job growth in April was in industries that pay more 
than the national average. For example, the professional business 
service industry comprised the largest share at 11,500. The average 
hourly pay of a nonsupervisory job in that industry is $17.27, well 
above the national average of $15.59.
  Unemployment was down in Florida from 5.3 a year ago to 4.6. The 
national average is 5.6. Florida's average unemployment rate in the 
1990s was 5.9.
  Personal income swelled in Florida in the last quarter by 1.3 percent 
to over $528 billion. Florida's housing values are up well over 11 
percent in 2003 and over 53 percent in the last 4 years.
  Exports have increased over $400 million for a total of $25 billion 
from Florida's export economy alone. And insourcing, a subject some on 
the other side of the aisle do not want to talk about, but we have had 
over 303,000 jobs in Florida from companies based in other 
countries. About 12.2 percent of all manufacturing jobs in Florida are 
with foreign companies.

  So the statistics are clear, the effects of our tax reductions and 
our attempts to make this economy stronger and more resilient are 
absolutely made positive by the charts that my colleague on the 
Committee on Ways and Means illustrated just moments ago.
  I am proud of the leadership of not only this White House but the 
entire Congress for recognizing that in order to get the opportunities 
present for people for jobs, for growth in their families' income, for 
more job security and for an aggressive, can-do spirit of passing very 
detailed and complicated legislation that has yielded in the pockets of 
people of the 16th Congressional District of Florida greater disposable 
income, greater sense of purpose, and greater job security. These are 
things that are not just imaginative. These are things displayed each 
and every day.
  I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) for leading this 
opportunity to talk to the Nation and talk to our friends. Look at the 
price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average today as opposed to 3 years 
ago, look at the unemployment numbers, look at all these factors; and I 
think it will bear out that the work done by this Congress is not only 
showing great progress but the months to come will show even more 
positive improvements in the lives of all Americans.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Foley) for his comments and thank him for his leadership in ensuring 
that we had tax relief for American families and small businesses to 
help this wonderful surge of employment that we have had in the United 
States.
  Again, as we can see from this chart, over the last 9 months almost a 
million and a half new jobs have been created, and in the last several 
months at a blistering pace. New jobs for Americans, and these are not 
just dry statistics that are appearing on some board, but I have the 
honor and privilege of representing the Fifth Congressional District of 
Texas which starts in the eastern part of the city of Dallas and takes 
in several of the suburbs of Dallas County and includes many rural 
areas in east Texas; and I have seen some great news in that area all 
due to President Bush's economic growth program.
  I was in Jacksonville, Texas, not too long ago in Cherokee County, 
Texas. I

[[Page H3943]]

went to visit a plant called Jacksonville Industries. They are an 
aluminum and zinc die cast business. They were having trouble in some 
respects in competing in their marketplace. But once President Bush 
brought his economic growth package forward and once we passed it in 
the House of Representatives, all of a sudden they were able to afford 
a new piece of equipment that previously they could not afford. Now I 
could not tell you the name of this piece of equipment, I could not 
tell you what it does, but it is big and makes a lot of noise, and it 
makes them more competitive in a very competitive marketplace. Prior to 
being able to acquire this machine, they were on the verge of perhaps 
having to let two of their workers go because they could not be 
competitive without having the new plant, the new equipment.
  Because of the equipment they were able to buy due to President 
Bush's tax relief program, instead of potentially laying off two 
workers, they hired three new workers. That is five people who could 
have been on unemployment, five people who could have been on welfare. 
Instead, thanks to our President and thanks to the Republican majority 
in the House of Representatives, those are five people with a real job, 
five people who are putting a roof over their own head, putting food on 
the table, helping educate their children, and realizing their own 
version of the American dream.
  That is how important tax relief is in America to get this surge of 
economic growth, this surge of jobs that we see being created. I see it 
all over the Fifth Congressional District of Texas. I see it in the 
city of Garland where all of a sudden a new CiCi's Pizza franchise 
opened up just a couple of months ago. They created 30 new jobs in 2 
months. In Mesquite, another superb of Dallas, a wonderful community, 
Coleman Homes, a home builder who came to Mesquite in 2002, has almost 
doubled their number of employees in just 2 years building homes.

                              {time}  2115

  Because as we said earlier, Mr. Speaker, we are enjoying the highest 
rate of homeownership that we have ever enjoyed in the history of the 
United States of America, thanks again to President Bush's economic 
growth program and a Republican majority in this House that would pass 
it.
  In Dallas where I live in the Lakewood neighborhood, because of the 
economic growth, a new bank opened. They put in $600,000 to renovate an 
old building that went to builders and carpenters and refinishers, and 
in just 3 months they have added 12 full-time jobs to help serve all 
the demand as businesses grow and need the capital that the bank can 
provide. The stories go on and on and on.
  Mr. Speaker, I know that tax relief works. I see it in the Fifth 
Congressional District of Texas. We see it all over America, and it is 
not just the evidence we have today. It is the history. As we mourn the 
passing of one of the great Presidents of the United States, President 
Reagan, we have to remember tax relief worked again in his 
administration. We cut marginal tax rates, and we had an explosion of 
economic activity, and we had more tax revenue come into the government 
as well.
  Mr. Speaker, there is other good news around this Nation. There is 
lots of good news, and that does not mean our work is done. We have 
much work to be done. We will not stop until every American who wants a 
job has a job. But another great leader that we have had in making sure 
that we have pro-growth economic policies for our Nation, to make sure 
that we create jobs in every corner of America is a great colleague of 
mine and cochairman of the Washington Waste Watchers, which has been on 
the vanguard of fighting waste, fraud and abuse in America.
  At this time I would like to yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Chocola).
  Mr. CHOCOLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and I 
thank my good friend from Texas for taking the leadership in talking 
about this very important subject, and I commend all my colleagues who 
have come down to the floor tonight to talk about what is going on in 
their States and their districts and sharing good news. I think it is 
so important that we do share this good news, because much of the 
economy is based on the confidence of the American people, and when 
they hear the good news I am confident that their confidence will swell 
and they will continue to do their job so well in growing the economy.
  Before coming to Congress, I was a business person. I was part of the 
economy trying to grow a business and create jobs every day, and one of 
the differences I have learned between working in the private sector 
and being part of government is that facts do not always get in the way 
of people's opinions here in government. I think it is important that 
we recognize what the facts are, and I think the Wall Street Journal 
today tried to share some of the facts about the economy in an 
editorial they entitled Gloom and Boom.
  Roughly, that editorial talked about how not long ago the critics of 
the economy said that this is the worst economy that we have seen since 
maybe the Great Depression, but then when economic growth was 
undeniable, the criticism was, well, there's growth, but there is no 
jobs. This is a jobless recovery, and now clearly there is robust job 
growth, so the criticism is, well, certainly there is growth and 
certainly there are jobs, but these are not good jobs; these are not 
good-paying jobs.
  The editorial went on to point out that in fact these are good jobs, 
the economy is growing, personal incomes are up, and the people getting 
the jobs today are being paid more than the jobs of yesterday.
  We can talk about Wall Street Journal editorials all night long. We 
can talk about national economic indicators all night long, and they 
are very, very important, but I find that the best national economic 
indicator is my local paper. So tonight I ran up to the files and 
looked in the file to try to find some examples of what is happening in 
the Second District of Indiana, and I just grabbed a few of the 
articles that were in the file from the last couple months. These are 
examples of the economic indicators we are finding in north central 
Indiana.
  Consumer Confidence Climbs. Economy, Job Market Gain Strength.
  Big New Business Here, 157 Jobs with Furniture Firm on the East Side. 
LaPorte Officials Celebrate ``Major'' Business Here.
  Zimmer Adding 400 More Jobs.
  Manufacturing Sees Expansion. March Results Give Hope for Job Growth.
  Jobless Claims at Three-Year Low. Hopes Raised. Economy Has Turned 
Corner.
  More Jobs on the Way. Manufacturer Adds New Product Line.
  Dutchmen Constructs Facility to Inspect RVs.
  RVs Roll to Big Total.
  Encouraging Developments on the South Side.
  Industry Upturn. Science Favorable For Manufactured Housing Market.
  Adding and Saving Jobs. Announcements This Week Good News.
  RV Business Opens Door in Argos.
  Pace of Hiring Will Pick Up. Survey Shows Companies Intend to Hire 
More in '04.
  Mr. Speaker, I could go on and on and on about the good economic news 
in the Second District of Indiana, and I certainly do not think we are 
alone. As we heard from our colleagues from Ohio and West Virginia, two 
States like Indiana that are very focused on manufacturing, very blue 
collar, districts and States that are starting to see robust economic 
growth, and I do not think that there is any denying this fact. And the 
fact is the American people have done their job so well.
  We are going in the right direction, and we need to continue to go in 
the right direction, because our job is clearly not done, as many have 
pointed out tonight. And we need to do two things to make sure we 
continue to go in the right direction. Number one, continue to adopt 
and implement pro-growth policies that help create environments where 
businesses can do their best work and achieve their best results. Small 
business in America is the backbone of our economy. Government does not 
create economic growth. The American people do, and small business 
does. And we need to make sure that the American people continue to 
keep more of their own money in their own pocket, because when they do 
that, they go out and invest in their community, they invest in their 
headlines, and they create headlines exactly like this.

[[Page H3944]]

  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to going home and reading more headlines 
like this and to congratulate the people of the Second District for 
doing such a great job, and I congratulate my good friend, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling), in leading us in this very 
important discussion, and I encourage the people American people to 
keep up the good work and keep this economy going.
  Mr. HENSARLING. I thank the gentleman for his comments. I especially 
thank him for reminding all of us that the government had nothing to do 
with this. It was the American people who went out and created these 
jobs. Not unlike my colleague from Indiana, I was a small businessman 
before I was elected to Congress. Government does not create jobs. Men 
and women who go out and risk capital and roll up their sleeves and 
work hard, they are the ones who create jobs in America. But for them 
to do it, government has got to get out of the way. Too many taxes 
destroy jobs. Too many regulations destroy jobs. Too much litigation 
destroys jobs. Fortunately due to President Bush's economic growth 
plan, due to this Republican majority in Congress, we took a huge step 
in providing this tax relief that has provided almost 1.5 million jobs 
in 9 months.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-
Balart), another great leader we have had on economic growth issues in 
the United States Congress, a gentleman who is the cofounder of the 
Washington Waste Watchers.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Let me first thank the gentleman 
from Texas for providing this insight here tonight. I was just 
listening to our friend from Indiana. He was mentioning the naysayers, 
the ones that constantly say that it is not going to work, that cutting 
taxes on the hardworking American people was not going to work. And 
then when it started working, they started saying, as he said, all 
right, it is working but it is not creating jobs. Then when it started 
creating jobs, as our friend from Indiana reminded us, they were 
saying, well, but they are not high paying jobs. He mentioned how that 
is just a fallacy. That is just not true.
  Let me give my colleagues some statistics from Florida. In Florida we 
are creating an incredible amount of jobs. Every single month the 
private sector in Florida is creating jobs. They are good paying jobs. 
Florida's economy is adding really good paying jobs. More than two-
thirds of Florida's payroll job growth in April, by the way, was in 
industries that pay more than the national average. Those are the 
facts. Some people do not like the facts and do not let the facts 
confuse what they want to believe in the issue. But those are the 
facts.
  Let me just read some of the quotes that were said by our friends in 
the minority party before they started seeing the results that we are 
talking about today. They said, for example, May 9, 2003, the Jobs and 
Growth Act will neither create jobs nor grow the economy. Wrong. It 
created jobs and it grew the economy. The majority's reckless, 
irresponsible tax agenda. They said that on May 5. It was neither 
reckless nor irresponsible to have the private sector create more than 
1 million jobs for hardworking Americans. They said again, May 9, 2003, 
to see how badly the Republican economic plan has failed all we have to 
do is look around.

  Well, look around. The tax cuts have worked. They are creating jobs. 
We have to do more. We are working to do more. Unfortunately, we are 
getting no help from our friends in the minority party because what do 
they propose? As opposed to cutting taxes, what did they propose? Let 
me tell my colleagues some specifics. They offered alternatives to 
major legislation just last year that would have added almost $1 
trillion to the deficit. That was their answer. But that was not 
enough. They did not support tax cuts. What they did support and they 
proposed three alternative budgets on this floor, on this very floor, 
and each one of them raised more than $100 billion in additional taxes 
to the hardworking men and women in this country.
  Let me just state this very clearly. If you think that your taxes are 
too low, that the Federal Government is utilizing your money very 
efficiently and that you need to send more of your money up here, then 
you support what they propose. But that is not what works. What works 
is cutting taxes, allowing the hardworking people to keep more of their 
money. But then they say, when it is working, when jobs are being 
created, but those are tax cuts on the wealthy. That is how they try to 
excuse it.
  Let me read some of the issues, some of the tax cuts that they say 
are for the wealthy. Maybe I just represent kind of a different 
district, but one of those that they say is the marriage penalty 
repeal. Marriage penalty repeal. I do not know about in other parts of 
the country, but in Florida not only the wealthy get married. How about 
the death tax repeal? Oh, that is a tax cut on the rich. I do not know 
about other parts of the country, but in the State that I represent not 
only do rich people die. How about the reduction of taxes on education 
savings? That is on the wealthy? Not in my State, not in the State that 
I live. How about the small business expensing? Those are small 
businesses, not wealthy. How about the adoption tax credit? These are 
the things that they objected to because they are tax cuts on the 
wealthy. How about the dependent care credit? That is not tax cuts for 
the wealthy. Those are people that have dependents at home. How about a 
tax credit for employer-provided child care facilities for hardworking 
moms and dads so that they can go to work? That is not for the wealthy. 
And how about the emergency tax relief? Even this, emergency tax relief 
to areas affected by the attacks of 9/11. Those are for the wealthy? 
No, those are responsible tax cuts for hardworking men and women in 
this country who create jobs, who create wealth, who do not want to 
create more bureaucrats. They want to create more jobs, more wealth. It 
is working.
  I thank the President for his leadership. I also want to particularly 
thank the leadership in this House and also my dear friend from Texas 
who has led the fight to look for waste, fraud and abuse in the Federal 
Government. He is doing a great job. I want to thank him for allowing 
me this time today.
  Mr. HENSARLING. I thank my colleague from Florida for his wonderful 
comments and helping remind us that again there are two very different 
visions for economic growth in America. In one vision again is tax 
relief for small businesses, the job-creating engine in America. 
Another is tax increases on business, tax increases on families. It is 
often said that one is entitled to their own opinions but one is not 
entitled to their own facts.
  Let me review again what has happened in the last 9 months. We have 
added almost 1.5 million new jobs in the last 9 months. And look at 
this. Look at the blistering pace in just the last 3 months of job 
creation in this economy due to tax relief. Look at this. The greatest 
economic growth in almost 20 years under this program, under President 
Bush's tax relief program, the greatest economic growth in almost 20 
years. Look what is happening to the unemployment rate. It is going 
down. Job creation is going up. Unemployment is going down. Incomes are 
up. Family incomes are up. These are not just jobs. We are seeing good 
jobs, good job growth in the American economy. Again that foundation of 
the American dream, homeownership, is at an all-time high.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, the question is where do we go from here, because 
there is work to be done. We do not want to rest until every American 
who wants a job has a job. We want to make sure that we have more tax 
relief, that Americans can go out and create more businesses and expand 
more jobs, so that every American can realize his American dream, that 
he can invest in his housing program, in his nutritional program, in 
his education program. But our friends from the other side of the 
aisle, they want to raise taxes on the American people. Mr. Speaker, we 
cannot tax our way into prosperity. That is a battle being fought in 
the House now. And another battle we are trying to fight, we want to 
reduce the litigation in America. Too often we do not love our 
neighbor, we sue our neighbor in America. There is something 
fundamentally wrong when it is easier to sue a doctor than it is to see 
a doctor.

[[Page H3945]]

                              {time}  2130

  There is something fundamentally wrong when one can sue McDonald's 
for millions of dollars because they spill hot coffee on oneself. 
Excess litigation hurts job growth. That is another difference between 
the Republicans and the Democrats.
  And how about too much regulation? I know as a small businessman the 
huge regulatory burden on our economy. It is almost $8,000 per American 
family. How many mortgage payments is that for the average American 
family? How many semesters of college is that? Instead, we are paying 
more in regulation costs. We want to bring down that regulatory cost. 
The Democrats want to increase that regulatory cost.
  Litigation sends jobs overseas. Regulation sends jobs overseas. And 
taxation sends jobs overseas.
  We need to thank President Bush for his principled leadership in all 
the job growth that he has created in the economy.

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