[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 83 (Wednesday, June 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6826-S6828]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HAMMERING THE MIDDLE CLASS

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, what we see happening in America today, 
after 3\1/2\ years of this administration, is what I call the middle-
class squeeze, a squeeze which has been tightened incredibly by the 
policies of the Bush administration. The truth really is, it is not so 
much they are being squeezed, the middle class is actually being 
hammered.
  Think about it. Since Mr. Bush took office in January of 2001, nearly 
2 million private sector jobs have been lost, putting downward pressure 
on wages and salaries. There has been some job growth over the last 
couple of months, but just since the passage of the 2003 tax bill, 11 
months ago, our economy created 1.2 million fewer jobs than the 
President's own Council of Economic Advisers predicted would be created 
without the tax bill. We have 2 million fewer jobs than what they 
predicted if they passed the tax bill.
  Now, again, there have been a few jobs in the last couple months. Of 
course, when the glass is dry, a drop of water seems like an ocean. 
That is what we have had. We have had a couple drops of water. We have 
had a couple months of job growth, but you don't judge an 
administration by 2 months, you judge it by 4 years, and over 4 years 
we have lost almost 2 million jobs. That is not even the half of it.
  Family income has fallen 2 percent. Housing prices have increased 18 
percent. Health insurance premiums are up 50 percent. Utility bills are 
up more than 15 percent. Credit card fees have doubled. And, in large 
measure, because of the Bush tax cuts and their negative impact on our 
State budgets, college tuition, under the Bush administration, is up a 
whopping 35 percent.
  Do you know who pays college tuition? The middle class. Meanwhile, as 
the middle class gets squeezed, Mr. Bush's base has never had it so 
good. I refer my colleagues to an article in yesterday's Wall Street 
Journal titled ``U.S. Led a Resurgence Last Year Among Millionaires 
World-Wide.'' This article, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, reports 
that the number of North Americans with over $1 million in financial or 
liquid assets increased by 13.5 percent last year, and their assets 
increased by 13.6 percent. At the same time, the wealth of the ultra-
high net worth individuals--those with over $30 million in assets--grew 
to a total of $2.5 trillion.
  In the last 3 years, corporate profits are up over fourfold--62 
percent over the past 3 years--but private wages are actually down. 
When we look at all compensation, private wages are less than one-third 
of normal growth.
  It says in this journal article that the number of millionaires in 
the U.S. is up, as I said, 14 percent--actually 13.6 percent--and that 
``the U.S. and Canada together added more new millionaires last year 
than Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East combined.''
  Well, so much for the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy. That is 
exactly who they are helping. Clearly, the President's policies--tax 
cuts for the rich, lower taxes on investment income--are working for 
those at the top, but it is not working for those on Main Street. This 
administration is ignoring Main Street. It might be listening to Wall 
Street, but it is ignoring Main Street. Quite frankly, what Main Street 
is telling us, loudly and clearly, is that their No. 1 concern is 
economic security.

  In the State of Iowa and across America, despite all the happy talk 
about the economy, people fear losing their jobs, their retirement, 
their health care. They are also worried about losing their right to 
time-and-a-half overtime. With the Labor Department's new overtime 
rule, people will be obligated to work 45, 50, 55, 60 hours a week with 
zero additional compensation. That is what is happening to the middle 
class.

[[Page S6827]]

  Basically, it is hitting women more than anyone else. This is one 
group disproportionately harmed by the proposed new overtime rules. 
Why? Because the fact is, women tend to dominate in retail services and 
sales positions that would be particularly affected by this new 
overtime rule.
  Married women increased their working hours by nearly 40 percent in 
the last 30 years. Consequently, their contribution to family income 
has also risen. So you have the squeeze on the middle class, which is 
now seeing the administration taking away their right to time-and-a-
half overtime.
  I have not even mentioned the discrimination against women in the 
workplace in terms of wages. Millions of women are working in female-
dominated jobs, as social workers, teachers, childcare workers, and 
nurses, with equivalent skill, effort, responsibility, and working 
conditions as similar jobs dominated by men, but these women are not 
paid the same as their counterparts in the male sector.
  This is wrong and it must end. That is why I introduced the Fair Pay 
Act in April 2003 to make sure women who are in these jobs are treated 
fairly and equitably.
  In summary, this President, George W. Bush, has presided over the 
largest job loss of any President since the Great Depression. Yet he 
remains wedded to policies that are making the problem worse for the 
middle class. His administration has praised the outsourcing of jobs as 
something good for our economy. This administration opposes any 
increase in the minimum wage. They oppose extending unemployment 
benefits. They are trying to take away the overtime rights of millions 
of American workers. This administration has done nothing to help 
equalize pay for women in the workplace.
  It all adds up to one thing: The middle class in America is getting 
hammered. It is time for a change. It is time to change our economic 
course. It is time to quit squeezing and hammering the American middle 
class.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from the great State of 
New Jersey.
  Mr. CORZINE. Mr. President, may I inquire how much time I have?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senator has 8 minutes.
  Mr. CORZINE. Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. President, before I begin, let me compliment the Senator from 
Iowa for addressing a topic on which I also want to speak. I think 
``hammered'' probably is the right term for what is happening to the 
middle class as opposed to ``squeezing.'' That would be more reflective 
of the real desperation that many families feel.
  Twenty-five years ago, generally, one member of a family was working. 
Now it takes two just to get by. Real wages are not growing in this 
economy. I think the Senator from Iowa points out very clearly how that 
is so painful in the lives of middle-class Americans.
  Particularly apt is his reference to this overtime pay, which 
absolutely goes to the heart of the middle class. The idea that we are 
trying to squeeze down or hammer down the ability to generate real 
earnings for working Americans is just inconceivable.
  I think the efforts of the Senator from Iowa are absolutely 
remarkable. We need to make sure America understands what is going on 
with regard to putting pressure on the earnings of the middle-
class. That is what makes America great. It always has. It built 
America.

  As one can see from this chart, average weekly earnings are up 1 
percent during the time the President has been in office. Those are the 
lost jobs about which the Senator spoke. In the last 4 months, real 
wages for working Americans have gone down. We saw another statistic 
yesterday that indicated they are declining.
  In that context, as the Senator from Iowa pointed out, college 
tuition costs are up. He said 35 percent. The numbers depend on how one 
calculates it. We have near 30 percent. Family health care premiums are 
up 36 percent. Gas prices are up 28 percent. At least in New Jersey, 
there have been property tax increases of 7 percent-plus every year 
under this administration's leadership. All we are doing is 
transferring tax breaks to those who are already doing well, the 13-
percent increase in millionaires who got the tax cuts, while the 
property tax on middle-class folks has gone up. That is why people 
don't feel comfortable. That is why polls tell people the economy is 
not working, even though we have seen some statistics in the last 3 to 
5 months that indicate it is working.
  It is not happening for the breadth of America. People don't focus on 
averages; they focus on what happens in their lives. By the way, 
speaking of averages, if we put together the 500 times earnings that 
CEOs make versus the low-wage earner in a company, we will come out 
with a nice average. But what happens to the bulk of the people working 
at the company? They are not seeing wage growth. They are not seeing 
their income going up with these kinds of numbers. It translates into a 
``hammering.'' The Senator from Iowa picked the right term.
  My effort today is to focus on dependent children and elderly family 
members because that is another part of where the squeeze is actually 
happening. It is real. Under this President, we have seen increases in 
childcare for a two-child family go up $2,050 over the last 3\1/2\ 
years. For each individual child, it is about $6,000 a year to maintain 
childcare. Today, 65 percent of all mothers who are in the labor force 
have children under the age of 6. We have two partners working in a 
family to try to make ends meet, and childcare costs are going off the 
charts. That is the squeeze. That is money that comes out of their 
ability to have a positive quality of life.
  There is a lot to be done. We had a bipartisan bill, the Snowe-Dodd 
proposal, to increase the welfare proposal by $6 billion worth of 
additional funding for childcare. Instead, we are getting proposals 
from the administration to cut 300,000 kids from childcare. It makes no 
sense. This is a fundamental area. When talking about family values and 
the importance of helping out communities, lifting them up and making 
ends meet, childcare is fundamental. We have one group of folks who 
want to actually invest in it so that we can make the quality of life 
for Americans better, and we have another group that wants to take away 
that ability and has cut 300,000 children from receiving childcare. 
That makes no sense.
  Only 1 in 10 children who are eligible to receive Federal assistance 
today are actually receiving it because they don't have the resources 
to match against the demand. That doesn't fit with this picture where 
we are seeing real earnings not going up and the cost of living for the 
middle class going up and childcare costs going up and we are not doing 
anything but cutting what we do here.

  Then is the issue of taking care of the elderly, making sure you have 
family care, a sick spouse, taking care of a senior, mothers and 
fathers who are retired. It is an incredible burden on all families, 
particularly if both partners in the family are working. Estimates are 
that there are about $250 billion worth of services provided by 
families to their own families that have no recognition in our national 
accounts, no recognition by our Federal Government in providing support 
for it. And 80 percent of home care services are provided by family 
caregivers. That is good. That is a real family value. But what are we 
doing to support them, and how does that fit into this whole process of 
a middle-class squeeze? It is an important topic that is completely 
underdescribed.
  Let me tell you a story about a lady in Monmouth County, NJ. Her name 
is Bernadette Discon. She starts her 20-hour day at 3 in the morning. 
She works from 3 to 7 a.m. doing medical transcription in her home. She 
wakes her husband who has advanced dementia, and drives him to daycare. 
It costs $55 a day for her to do that--no support, no help at all. She 
also has the responsibility of taking care of her 85- and 87-year-old 
mother and father. Neither drives. Neither is able to take care of 
themselves completely. One must use a walker. Bernadette works all day 
after she drops off her husband. She returns home at 6 o'clock, goes 
back to transcription work from 7 to 11 at night, trying to make ends 
meet. This is the kind of story that is actually happening. Her wages 
are going up 1 percent on average across this country. And she is 
having to deal with the

[[Page S6828]]

kinds of family care problems we talked about that actually happen with 
childcare.
  It is not right that America is not addressing some of these social 
needs while we are seeing these kinds of costs go up. That is why we on 
this side of the aisle--as well as Senator John Kerry--are talking 
about a middle-class squeeze because it is real in people's lives. It 
is not the same as what is happening to the GDP or whether you are 
seeing disposable income which takes in dividends and capital gains at 
the high end and mushes them together and comes out with an average 
result.
  What we need to do is look at what is actually happening in the lives 
of working men and women. Bernadette Discon's story is real. It shows 
how the pressure impacts on an individual's life. If she had kids, 
college tuition is going up 28 percent. She is paying 30 percent more 
for gas. That puts real pressure on a family.
  It is time to recognize that economics is more than just statistics 
that are announced on Friday morning at 8:30 to say whether employment 
is up or down. It is the quality of life that goes with those 
statistics. A lot of people are feeling squeezed. As the Senator from 
Iowa said, a lot of families are feeling hammered.
  It is time for a change, and it is time to recognize the reality of 
what is happening in the lives of middle-class Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah is recognized 
for up to 15 minutes.

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