[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.
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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.
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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.
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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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