[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6898-S6899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Economic Growth

  Mr. President, I want to follow on with regard to what my colleague 
and good friend from South Dakota talked about in terms of tax reform. 
We are debating tax reform now. We are marking up a bill. The Finance 
Committee has not marked up the bill yet. It is working on the bill, 
but as Senator Thune just mentioned, we have to have one common goal in 
this body, which tax reform should be driving, and that is the issue of 
economic growth--the issue of economic growth.
  We would think this should not be a partisan issue, but one of the 
things I am struck by, in my little under 3 years in the Senate, is how 
little we have talked about economic growth.
  I have tried to come down to the Senate floor and speak about this 
issue a lot. In my view, with the exception of national defense, this 
is the most important issue Congress can be focused on right here, this 
issue of growth. How is the U.S. economy doing? Is it strong? Is it 
weak? Are we healthy or are we sick? By any measure over the last 10 
years, we are sick.
  I bring this chart to the floor a lot to talk about what has gone on 
in the last several decades in terms of economic growth. This has the 
growth rates of every administration dating back to President 
Eisenhower. If you look at the numbers, this red line is the important 
line. This is 3 percent GDP growth. It is not great. It is not bad. 
Since the founding of the Republic, the average since World War II is 
closer to 4 percent, but 3 percent is OK. It is certainly what we 
should be focused on in terms of hitting.
  If we look at this chart, in certain years, Eisenhower, Kennedy--by 
the way very bipartisan--we have had very strong growth. When people 
talk about what makes America great, this is what makes America great: 
strong economic growth. This is what has driven our country for 
decades.
  We see some of the numbers, Kennedy, Johnson, 5, 6, 7 percent; 
Reagan, Clinton, 5, 6, 7 percent. Then we look at the last decade--
boom, a giant dropoff. We haven't hit 3 percent GDP growth in well over 
10 years--well over 10 years. As a matter of fact, President Obama was 
the first President ever to not hit it.
  What happened? Did anyone talk about it? Did the last administration 
talk about it? They never talked about it. As a matter of fact, what 
they did is they started telling Americans: Don't worry. We are going 
to dumb down expectations. We are going to tell you--despite this 
chart, despite what this really means--this represents the American 
dream. Despite the fact that all previous administrations were focused 
on 3 percent, we are not going to talk about that. We will dumb it down 
and call this anemic growth back here--1 percent, 1\1/2\--the new 
normal.
  What does that mean? That means we are going to surrender. We are 
going to say, well, this is really America hitting on all cylinders. 
This is what you as Americans should expect in the future.
  I think this idea of the new normal, which a lot of people in DC talk 
about, is probably one of the most dangerous concepts in Washington, 
DC, right now. The new normal means that despite

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this history of 3 percent or higher for decades, we are going to 
surrender because our policies have smothered growth, have smothered 
the American dream.
  Here is the good news. I think we finally have a White House that is 
starting to focus on this issue. Certainly, the Congress is starting to 
focus on this issue, and the Senate is starting to focus on this issue 
with policies like tax reform, with policies like regulatory 
streamlining, with policies like infrastructure, with policies like 
energy. As the Presiding Officer knows, our two great States are part 
of the energy renaissance that can drive economic growth well above 3 
percent.
  As we focus on tax reform, as this body focuses on tax reform, I am 
hopeful my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, can all agree that 
one of the key elements of what we are doing with regard to tax reform, 
and every other policy in this body, is to get us back to traditional 
levels of U.S. economic growth, to get us back to where people say: 
Wow. I have great opportunities. Look at this economy--not the doldrums 
and the anemic growth and the sub-3 percent new normal that we have 
been told by other Federal officials to accept as our fate.
  That shouldn't be our fate. We should have policies, particularly tax 
reform, that are focused on getting back above that red line, and I am 
certainly hopeful that all my colleagues--all 100 U.S. Senators--can 
agree on that goal, strong economic growth for American families and 
reigniting the American dream with strong GDP growth that is much 
higher than what we have seen in the last 10 years.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 
to speak despite the order for recess.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.