[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 86 (Monday, June 21, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H4620-H4621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gerlach). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, last week, on the floor of this 
Chamber, there were two interesting 1-hour presentations. The first 
hour came from the other side of the aisle, from the Republican side. 
Members from Texas and Illinois, Members from Arizona and West 
Virginia, Members from Florida, Indiana, from my State of Ohio all 
spoke on the floor and talked about the growing economy, how the 
American economy is back.
  They talked about corporate profits being up. They talked about 
economic prosperity. They said that our economy was in fine, fine 
shape. In fact, they quoted President Bush's Secretary of Commerce who 
said, ``It is the best economic climate in my lifetime.'' That was the 
first hour.
  The next hour a group of us from mostly Ohio, the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Ryan), the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones), the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Strickland), was joined by the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. 
Schakowsky). We, instead of sort of cheerleading this economic growth, 
we talked instead or related stories from people in our districts and 
letters we had received about people struggling with stagnating wages, 
with tuition increases. Ohio State's tuition will go up 13 percent this 
fall. Akron University's tuition went up 16 percent last fall. We 
talked about gas prices, people's difficulty of dealing with higher gas 
prices, of diminishing health care benefits, the employers cutting 
prescription drug benefits, all of that.
  In my State of Ohio, we have lost one out of six manufacturing jobs 
since President Bush took office. Some 228,000 jobs overall have 
disappeared in my State since the President took the oath of office in 
2001. In fact, because we have lost 2.5 million jobs since he took 
office, President Bush will be the first President since Herbert Hoover 
to have had a net loss of jobs.
  Now, we can talk about how much corporate profits are up, and that is 
a good thing for sure. We can talk about some economic growth, and this 
is a good thing; but when we look at the economy and we look at the 
kinds of job loss and we think about what that job loss means, first of 
all, a steelworker in Canton, Ohio; an auto worker in Lorain, Ohio; a 
textile worker in North Carolina that loses a job that pays $10 or $12 
or $15 or $20 an hour, depending on the plant and the location, what 
that means when that family loses that job, if perhaps the members of 
the family can find another job, that certainly will pay less, if they 
can find anything else, but think what that means to that family and 
those children and to the schools in that district where that plant 
closed down.
  The city of Cleveland laid off 600 teachers starting this fall. 
Classrooms in Cleveland now will average 30 students per classroom. 
Layoffs in my home city of Lorain, several dozen teachers lost their 
jobs because we have lost industrial jobs. Police and fire are laid 
off, which is a greater hardship on those families and greater hardship 
on the communities that they face, which will then have slower police 
and fire response time.
  The person that owns the diner, the waiters and waitresses in the 
diner

[[Page H4621]]

next to the plant that closes down, loses business, may go out of 
business. The real estate agent is faced with selling a whole bunch of 
homes that nobody wants to buy. Workers, all kinds of people are 
affected from this kind of job loss.
  Now the White House, they have enlisted cheerleaders, Members of 
Congress, who come to this House floor and talk about this growing 
economy, talk about corporate profits going up and talk about how it is 
the best economy in memory of the Secretary of Commerce. In their play 
book, the White House apparently does not see this or does not care to 
see what happens to these families and what happens to these 
communities. The White House play book says between now and the 
election you have got to be optimistic, you have got to cheer lead, you 
have got to say the economy is better, you have got to make Americans 
think everything's great in this country; that we are going to continue 
to grow.
  I do not question my Republican friends. I think they actually 
believe that. They believe that because 5 percent of the people in this 
country have gotten big, big tax cuts, a person making $1 million got 
$123,000 tax cut from the President Bush, somebody makes a lot less 
makes almost nothing. The people that Members of Congress hang around 
with are doing well. They have good jobs. They get tax cuts. They are 
doing well. Their companies are doing well because they are the CEOs.
  But when they are cheerleading about how great the economy is and 
accusing people like Senator Kerry of being doom and gloom, the fact is 
we have got to change the policy. We have got to change the direction 
of this economy. We have got to stop doing it the way we are doing it. 
We need to give tax relief to those companies that are hiring 
domestically and not exporting jobs overseas.

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