[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 157 (Thursday, December 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H11272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H11272]]
                         OUR ECONOMIC PROSPECTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, data released Monday on productivity and 
wages show why the American people do not believe President Bush when 
he says our economic prospects are bright and improving.
  Yes, productivity is strong, and the economy is growing. But the 
benefits of that growth are showing up in the bottom lines of 
companies, not in the paychecks of American workers.
  While productivity grew at a 4.7 percent annual rate in the third 
quarter, workers' pay, including benefits, shrank at a 1.4 percent 
rate. Let me repeat that important point. Workers' pay shrank by 1.4 
percent.
  Americans are working harder and producing more, but they are getting 
paid less.
  President Bush is seizing on some recent favorable economic 
indicators to claim that the Nation's economic outlook is brighter than 
we have seen recently. I certainly wish that that were true for most 
Americans. The typical American family has a very different view 
because they know that they are still being left behind in the current 
economic recovery.
  When I listen to the President recite the numbers he thinks show 
Americans are doing better, I am reminded of his speech in the Rose 
Garden several days after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, when he 
recited the numbers of trucks, pounds of rice and the National 
Guardsmen he had ordered to New Orleans. Meanwhile, anyone with a TV 
set would see that Americans were still desperately struggling to 
survive with absolutely no Federal help.
  The President seems equally out of touch on the economy. Ask your 
constituents how they are doing. Ask them if they have a secure job 
with benefits. Ask them if they are confident that they will have a job 
until they are ready to retire. Ask them if they think their children 
will have a job when they graduate from college.
  In fact, a closer look at the numbers show that the administration 
has run a strong economy into the ground. Here are the facts. Under the 
Bush presidency, the economy has experienced the most protracted job 
slump in the postwar era. That is the worst record of any president 
since Hoover and the Great Depression.
  The unemployment rate is nearly 1 percentage point higher than it was 
when President Bush took office. That is a 25 percent increase from 
where it was in the Clinton administration.
  Over 1.6 million more people are unemployed. Twice as many people are 
long-term unemployed. Most people are actually earning less. The 
typical worker's earnings have barely kept up with inflation under 
President Bush, and real wages have been declining recently.
  Under President Bush, real median household income is down $1,700, 
and 5.4 million more Americans live in poverty. That is the greatest 
decline in real household income and the second largest increase in the 
poverty rate of the last nine administrations. The most vulnerable 
among us are being hit the hardest. Under President Bush, real median 
family income has fallen for each fifth of the income distribution, but 
the largest decline has been in the poorest fifth of the distribution.
  Because of the reckless economic policies of this administration, 
large projected budget surpluses have been turned into large actual 
deficits and the Federal debt is ballooning, rather than shrinking as 
it was at the end of the Clinton administration.
  And here we see the numbers in blue of the surpluses during the 
Clinton years. Yet when the Bush Administration came to power, that 
surplus disappeared and we have had ever increasing deficits reaching 
the highest deficit recorded in our history of over $412 billion. It 
has come down to $319 billion, but it is still a structural problem.
  We also have the largest trade deficit in the history of this 
country, of over $670 billion.

                              {time}  1645

  As Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan and many other economists 
repeatedly noted, our exploding deficits and debt are long-term 
structural problems that are rapidly getting worse. Only last week he 
repeated that warning: ``In the end, the consequences for the U.S. 
economy of doing nothing could be severe,'' and our allies have called 
our deficits ``unsustainable'' even as we continue to increase the 
amount of U.S. debt held by China and other Asian nations.
  As Chairman Greenspan also warned recently, ``at some point, foreign 
investors will balk at further financing'' the growing U.S. deficit.
  Thanks to the economic policies of this Administration, our national 
debt now stands at $8.3 trillion. That translates into over $27 
thousand of debt for every man, woman and child in the country.
  What is this Administration doing about this crisis?
  They have increased the debt ceiling three times.
  They have pushed for deficit-raising tax cuts for the very wealthiest 
while refusing to give tax relief to the middle class.
  This Administration is continuing to set records for debts and 
deficits while turning its back on working Americans.

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