[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 145 (Friday, September 12, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S8482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FEINGOLD:
  S. 3486. A bill to establish the Commission on Measures of Household 
Economic Security to conduct a study and submit a report containing 
recommendations to establish and report economic statistics that 
reflect the economic status and well-being of American households; to 
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, our Government agencies collect and 
report a range of economic information but much of what we see or hear 
is most suited to describing the general state of the country's 
economy. This information does not reflect what is happening in and 
what matters most to our families and the quality of our lives. For 
example, our national unemployment figures don't tell us that those who 
are employed may not have benefits, or that they are working two or 
three jobs to earn the income that they report, or that their mortgage 
debt and college loans are jeopardizing their ability to repay their 
credit card debt or their medical bills. By knowing and reporting this 
kind of information we can not only more accurately reflect what our 
families are experiencing economically, we can better inform 
policymakers about what matters most to people and the steps that need 
to be taken to address household economic needs and concerns.
  To address this need I am introducing the Commission on Measures of 
Household Economic Security Act of 2008. The bill would establish a 
bipartisan congressional commission of 8 economic experts to look at 
existing government economic data and identify the possible need for 
new information, more accurate methodologies and better ways to report 
these economic measures to give a more accurate and reliable picture of 
the economic well being of American households. As part of their 
effort, the Commission will be asked to meet with representative groups 
of the public so that their views are taken into account in the 
Commission's recommendations.
  In doing this, the Commission will look at such things as the current 
debt situation of American individuals and households, including 
categories of debt such as credit card debt, education related loans 
and mortgage payments; the movement Americans between salaried jobs 
with benefits to single or multiple wage jobs with limited or no 
benefits with a comparison of income to include the value of benefits 
programs such as health insurance and retirement plans; the percentage 
of Americans who are covered by both employer-provided and individual 
health care plans and the extent of coverage per dollar paid by both 
employers and employees; the savings rate, including both standard 
savings plans and pension plans; the disparity in income distribution 
over time and between different demographic and geographic groups; and 
the breakdown of household expenditures between such categories as 
food, shelter, medical expenses, debt servicing, and energy.
  In addition, the Commission will consider the relevance of certain 
non-market activities, like household production, education, and 
volunteer services that affect the economic well being of households 
but are not measured or valued in currently reported economic 
statistics. As Robert F. Kennedy has famously said, some of our 
economic indicators measure ``everything in short, except that which 
makes life worthwhile.'' We need to make an effort to value more than 
just our gross domestic product and sales receipts. We need to better 
measure and understand what matters to American households.
  This effort to improve how we measure what matters in our economy is 
very much in the Wisconsin tradition of accountable good Government. It 
was Senator Robert LaFollette, Jr. who, in 1932, introduced a 
resolution requiring the U.S. Government to establish a more 
scientific, specific and accurate set of measures of the health of the 
U.S. economy. From his request, Simon Kuznets, a University of 
Pennsylvania economics professor, developed the first set of national 
accounts which form the basis for today's measure of GDP and other 
economic indicators. Kuznets won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Economics 
``for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which 
has led to new and deepened insight into the economic and social 
structure and process of development.'' His work was the basis for much 
of the New Deal reform policies. Yet Kuznets specifically acknowledged 
that his measures were incomplete and did not go far enough to measure 
what may really matter. In his 1934 report to the Senate on his 
compilation of statistics associated with Gross National Product he 
concluded: ``The welfare of a nation can . . . scarcely be inferred 
from a measurement of national income as [so] defined . . . .'' This 
bill is intended to advance these earlier efforts to make our economic 
statistical measures more reflective of the welfare of our families and 
our nation.
  The cost of this commission will be fully covered by amounts already 
authorized and appropriated to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I urge 
my colleagues to support my legislation
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