[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 15, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1322-S1323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I come to the floor also to talk about 
where we are and, more importantly, where we need to go with respect to 
the economy that impacts all of us in various ways. It seems 
appropriate to emphasize some of the key points about the health of our 
economy, about what is doing very well, and about what we need to be 
working on now to ensure that this continues, and also to have 20/20 
vision about where we want to be and what we need to do to get there.
  I am disappointed about the slowness in our moving this year and a 
certain amount of obstructionism that seems to be going on in terms of 
moving forward. Nevertheless, we ought to keep in mind that over the 
last year, we have been able to accomplish a great deal and the 
challenge is there to move forward.
  We have been able to keep the taxes relatively low, which, obviously, 
is a key factor in our economy, and we need to make sure it continues 
that way. We have certainly been able to do what is necessary to work 
toward having a strong health care program in this country, and that is 
a great challenge for us. We did do something last year with 
pharmaceuticals, making them available, and even though the process was 
a little difficult, now we are seeing great increases in the number of 
people who are able to obtain pharmaceutical drugs at a more reasonable 
rate.
  We have assured that there will be more opportunities for job 
training and training in technologies so that we will have more 
research and will be able to continue to lead the world in terms of our 
economy.
  I think one of the more important things we did last year was to pass 
an energy bill that gives us some direction in terms of one of the most 
important elements of our economy. There were other accomplishments as 
well last year. We passed legislation to end frivolous lawsuits, which 
has had a great impact on many aspects of our economy. We put some 
judges in place with a fair process.

  We need to be reminded sometimes of how well our economy is doing in 
terms of real growth. The GDP growth experienced in 2005 was at a rate 
of 3.5 percent for the year as a whole, while inflation remained at 2 
percent. So that is very good. Those are very good numbers, and it is 
better than what we have experienced over a number of years, and 
certainly it is exactly what we want to do.
  Real disposable income rose at 4 percent in December. We are up 1.4 
percent for the year 2005. The aftertax income per person has risen 
almost 8 percent. Real household net worth is at an all-time high. This 
is good, and we need to make sure we understand that.
  Retail sales have risen, again, 7 percent in December and 6.4 percent 
for the whole year. So that is very good.
  Employment growth remains high. Employers created 2 million new jobs 
in 2005, resulting in a less than 5-percent unemployment rate at the 
end of the year.
  Since 2003, when the tax cut went into effect, there have been almost 
5 million new jobs created. That is a good sign, and we ought to 
understand it is the impact of that tax cut. Job growth is often 
affected and impacted, as is the total economy, by what we do with 
taxes. We have a great deal of controversy about it, of course. When we 
have the unusual expenses of the war on terrorism and of Katrina, it 
makes it difficult as we look at our budget. But the fact is the 
discretionary part of the budget has been held down. We need to get the 
job completed in Iraq, complete our work there and reduce that spending 
and bring our troops home. All of us want to do that.
  The point I want to make is we have had a very favorable impact from 
what has been done over the last couple of years, and the thing we are 
seeking to do right now is continue those tax reductions that will 
strengthen the economy and continue to help. As I said, employment 
remains high. That is good. Job creation is what we want to do. We have 
to deal with immigration, of course. Even though we do need immigrants 
and workers here, we need to be legal. But we have this job creation 
thing that we need to continue to work on.
  One of the real challenges we have before us is to deal some more 
with energy. As I said, last year we passed energy policies that I 
think were excellent. Now, of course, we have to implement those 
policies. We dealt last year with the question of alternative fuels in 
the future, whether we will be able to use wind energy, be able to use 
bioenergy, be able to use ethanol, all of these kinds of things. Those 
are future activities, and we will be able to do that. That challenge 
is to have the technology and the funding for the research to be able 
to move into those fields. That is something we can do and indeed we 
must do.
  Coupled with that is another challenge. Those changes are going to be 
over a relatively long time, at least several years, where we are faced 
immediately with shortages and dependence on world production and with 
costs. We are working on a budget that will provide funding for doing 
research in the short term.
  There are opportunities, for instance, in Wyoming and many of the 
energy production States where we have new sources of fairly immediate 
energy. We can do some things with coal, for example, our largest 
fossil fuel. We can make some conversions from coal into

[[Page S1323]]

gas; we can make conversion into hydrogen and do those things in a 
fairly short term. Of course, gas is more flexible than coal, so if we 
can do something there, that would be good. We have an opportunity to 
go into shale oil which is a different source than we have used in the 
past. It takes research to get there. We need to be doing that.
  Coupled with that, of course, to keep our economy going and make sure 
we deal with the energy issue is conservation and efficiency. There is 
a great challenge there, to use less energy in our economy and be more 
conservative in our use--whether it is automobiles or buildings. 
Clearly, we can do more in that area than we have done. That is a 
challenge we have before us. That will have a great impact on the 
economy.
  Home sales are at a record level. More people than ever own their 
homes, and that is a great thing. We need to ensure that continues to 
happen and we have the tax incentives and other regulations in order to 
do that.
  When we put in place some of the tax reductions that helped the 
economy, another impact of it has been an increase in revenues. Tax 
cuts not only leave more money in the pockets of Americans but have 
also resulted in fairly dramatic increases in receipts to the Treasury. 
Tax collections from nonsalaried income were up 32 percent as a result 
of tax reductions on capital gains and these sorts of things. They 
cause more investment and more activities, which are then taxed and 
bring money in. Capital gains collections brought in almost $80 
billion, up from almost $50 billion from 2002.
  The broad point is we are able to do some things that strengthen the 
economy, that allow people to create more jobs and invest more in the 
economy by reducing taxes and, at the same time, because of the 
economic growth, increase revenue.
  All these results point to continuing to pursue that. Actually, in 
January we ran up one of the highest surpluses in the last 4 years--$21 
billion. That is a great thing. Now we have to take a little longer 
look at spending on the other side so we can balance these things out.
  Health care is another concern. We need to take some long looks at 
that. We need to provide the opportunity for health care for everyone. 
Accessibility becomes difficult because of the costs. I am from a rural 
area. Rural health care is one of the issues we have. We have done some 
things there.
  Overall, we have seen some real growth in the economy and some good 
things happening. We have an opportunity to continue to do that. I hope 
we will get moving with the things that are here and continue to do the 
things that help this economy and do good for the American people.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. COBURN). The Senator from the great State 
of Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 20 minutes as 
in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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