[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 12, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H288-H289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          STATE OF THE ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics released the monthly jobs report for December. It was 
another in a long, uninterrupted string of good reports. The report 
showed that the economy gained 292,000 private sector jobs last month 
and that the unemployment rate fell to 5 percent.
  During 2015, the economy added nearly 2.7 million jobs. Nevertheless, 
many of my colleagues across the aisle continue to talk as if the 
recovery under President Obama has been lackluster. They seem to forget 
the economic meltdown that occurred under the leadership of the prior 
administration. But the millions of Americans who lost their homes, 
their jobs, they haven't forgotten.
  Let's look at how far we have come in the period after President Bush 
left office. The truth is, the record is pretty impressive. First, a 
reminder of where we started. Back in January of 2009, when President 
Bush left office and President Obama was sworn in, the economy shed 
nearly 820,000 private sector jobs in January in 1 month alone. As 
former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke described it, we were facing the worst 
financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression.
  Between the end of 2007 and the second quarter of 2009, real GDP fell 
by 4.2 percent. Around $17 trillion in household wealth evaporated 
during the Great Recession. To put that number in some perspective, $17 
trillion is about equal to our entire gross domestic product, the sum 
total of all the goods and services produced by the entire economy of 
the United States for all of 2014. That is a great deal of money to 
lose. In fact, it would be almost enough to pay off our entire national 
debt.
  In July of 2009, there were about seven unemployed workers for every 
single job opening in the country, meaning that no matter how hard most 
unemployed people tried to get a job, six out of every seven of them 
were going to be just out of luck. You may recall that back then our 
colleagues across the aisle were adamantly opposed to extending jobless 
benefits.
  By October of 2009, the unemployment rate had reached 10 percent. 
Housing prices were falling. Lending was frozen. The stock market had 
cratered. Businesses were failing. People all over the country were 
losing their jobs, their homes, their savings, and their hopes. It was 
a pretty terrible time for millions of Americans.

[[Page H289]]

  Now, much has changed. 2014 and 2015 were the strongest 2 years of 
job creation since 1998 to 2000, when Bill Clinton was President. The 
private sector is powering the economy forward. Our businesses have 
added 14 million jobs over a record 70 consecutive months of job 
growth. Wages have finally begun to rise. Nominal average hourly 
earnings for all private employees have now risen 2.5 percent over the 
past year. The ratio of unemployment seekers to job openings has fallen 
from 7 to 1 to 1.5 to 1. That is about the lowest this ratio has been 
since early 2007.
  Since the start of the Obama administration, our real GDP has 
increased by 14 percent. The U.S. auto industry, which was on death's 
door when President Obama took office, is now healthy, thriving, and 
enjoyed record sales in 2015. Our auto industry is now exporting and 
creating even more jobs. Oil and gas prices are low. Mortgage rates 
remain low. Inflation is simply not a factor. The dollar is strong, and 
housing prices are back up to where they were in 2007.
  All of this recovery was not an accident, not a stroke of good luck. 
Things certainly would have been quite different if we had only 
listened to the counsel of our colleagues across the aisle. They 
vehemently opposed efforts taken by the Obama administration to 
stimulate the economy, and they opposed actions by the Federal Reserve 
that turned out to be very critically important.
  What would have happened without these actions by the Federal Reserve 
and the Democrats in Congress? The recession would have lasted twice as 
long, according to a recent study by highly respected economists Alan 
Blinder and Mark Zandi. The Blinder-Zandi study found that without 
these actions, the unemployment rate would have reached nearly 16 
percent, and we would have lost twice as many jobs, more than 17 
million. It is a bit scary to even think about.
  So the facts show that we have had a very strong recovery. Are we 
done? Absolutely not. There is much more work to do to ensure the 
recovery reaches everyone. Big challenges remain. Many families are 
struggling to make ends meet, to make the mortgage payment, to save for 
their children's education. We need faster wage growth, accessible 
child care, and higher education that is affordable to all families. It 
is time to pass comprehensive immigration reform and to protect 
Americans from gun violence.
  I am excited about the opportunity to make real progress on these 
issues this year, and I look forward to working in a bipartisan way to 
continue to focus on the challenges facing middle class families.

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