[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 99 (Friday, July 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S8271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MIDDLE-CLASS SQUEEZE

  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, over the course of the last several 
weeks, many of us have come to the floor to talk about the question 
raised by our former President, Ronald Reagan, back in the 1980 
Presidential campaign. His question at that time, which we are told was 
paraphrased from a question posed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1934, was: 
``Are you better off than you were four years ago?''
  Unfortunately, in 2004, the answer to that question is all too clear 
for most middle-class Americans. Four years ago, our economy was 
booming. The stock market had reached record heights. Twenty-two 
million jobs had been created in 8 years. We built a record Federal 
surplus. And millions of American families enjoyed newfound prosperity 
and felt the optimism of even better times ahead.
  Four years later, we have lost nearly 2 million private sector jobs, 
the stock market has dropped, record surpluses have turned to record 
deficits, and middle-class families are truly being squeezed.
  This chart tells the story. Since President Bush came to office, 
wages have been stagnant. Average weekly earnings have not increased in 
the last 4 years, but the costs facing Americans have skyrocketed. Gas 
prices have increased 23 percent; college tuition has gone up 28 
percent; and family health care premiums, as we can see from the chart, 
have actually increased 36 percent.
  All that has come out of average weekly earnings, which have been 
stagnant.
  This is not what was predicted. This certainly is not what the White 
House said would happen under its economic policies.
  In his annual economic report released in February, the President 
predicted the economy would create 3.8 million jobs in 2004.
  As of today, we are still 2.5 million jobs short of that goal. Even 
more troubling, the jobs being created today pay less than the jobs we 
have lost. And even Americans who have been fortunate enough to keep 
their jobs have failed to see the pay raises they need and they 
deserve.
  Just this morning we received confirmation from the Department of 
Labor that working Americans are still being squeezed by this economy. 
In fact, the new numbers indicate the squeeze is actually getting 
worse. According to the Labor Department, real earnings in June fell 
$2.16, the second largest monthly drop in 14 years.
  The Labor Department report also reveals what has happened over the 
past year. As this chart shows, the real earnings of our working people 
over this last year have actually decreased by 1.4 percent. They have 
less purchasing power today than they did in June 2003. But a typical 
commodity, a grocery that most families buy every week, milk, has gone 
up 30 percent. All this money is coming out of weekly earnings.
  As people across the country know, gas prices have also risen 
dramatically. There was an article on the front page of the Wall Street 
Journal about this development. It concluded that at current prices, 
the average driver will pay nearly $300 more for gasoline this year 
than last year. And the story only gets worse when it comes to 
prescription drugs.
  According to a recent report by the AARP, drug companies raised their 
prices for the top 200 brand-name drugs at nearly three times the rate 
of inflation in the first 3 months of 2004. Some of my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle think these increases are less important to 
American families than the rise of gross domestic product, GDP. But 
Americans don't live on GDP, they live on earnings. That is what they 
use to pay for milk, gas, medicine, health insurance, and tuition. They 
live on earnings, and those earnings clearly are not keeping up with 
the costs they are facing today.
  Remarkably, the administration's response to this problem has been to 
further undermine wages by limiting overtime rights. This week, an 
independent study showed that the White House's new overtime 
regulation, which goes into effect next month, will strip 6 million 
workers of their right to overtime. That is unacceptable. Democrats 
continue to fight at every opportunity to reverse the administration's 
misguided policy. Middle-class Americans are being squeezed, and the 
last thing they need is for their Government to make it worse.
  What Congress should do is raise the minimum wage. It has been 8 
years since we last voted to raise it. In that time it has become 
nearly impossible for minimum wage workers to make ends meet, 
especially when they are trying to raise a family. In my home State of 
South Dakota, a worker earning the minimum wage has to work 82 hours a 
week to afford rent for a two-bedroom apartment. And that is without 
taking into account other family costs, such as clothing, groceries, 
and health care.
  Of course, not everyone in America is feeling the pinch. As this 
chart shows, while workers continue to struggle, our big corporations 
are thriving. In just the past year, corporate profits have risen 30 
percent. The White House likes to talk about how we are now in an 
economic recovery. That is true for corporate America. But American 
workers are being left behind. As the New York Times recently reported, 
take-home pay, as a share of the economy, is at its lowest level since 
the Government started keeping track in 1929.
  Economic policies that lead to these kinds of results don't do right 
by middle-class families, and they don't do right by America.
  The good news is, we can do right by America. We proved during the 
Clinton administration that we can create millions of jobs, raise 
wages, and increase the quality of life for families all through the 
country. We did right by America then, and we can do it again.
  With the help of the American people, and with some resolve by this 
body, we will do it again.

  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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