[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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