[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 12, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5083-H5088]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  GOOD THINGS HAPPENING IN OUR ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous materials on the topic of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Speaker, this is actually one of those sort of 
joyful moments that we finally get a chance to come up here, and we 
don't very often get to do that.
  We are going to have a discussion of what is happening in our 
economy, in our society for both our friends on the left and those of 
us on the right, the love of people, and the fact that they have 
opportunity.
  When you look at the unemployment statistics, when you actually take 
a look at how many of our brothers and sisters are moving back into the 
workforce, the income, and the closing of income inequality, there are 
wonderful things happening out there.
  The neat thing tonight, we are going to bring a number of Members 
from different parts of the country, particularly in the West, and we 
are going to talk about what they are seeing happening in their region. 
We are going to talk also about a little bit of the data and a handful 
of fairly interesting things that I am actually excited about.
  So, first, I yield to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Gianforte) and 
give him an opportunity to talk about what is happening in his State.

                              {time}  2030

  Mr. GIANFORTE. I thank the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Speaker, for 
leading this effort. It is a pleasure for me to share with this body 
the benefits Montanans are seeing from tax reform.
  It has been 6 months since President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act into law, and we are already seeing the results. The benefits 
of the tax cuts are not a theory. I see it when I meet with Montanans 
throughout the State.
  Paychecks are growing. Montana businesses are making investments and 
creating jobs. In fact, since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into 
law, 1 million new jobs have been created. The national unemployment 
rate matches the 49-year low, and Montanans' unemployment rate has 
dropped. America's economic growth is exceeding expectations.
  Hardworking Montanans across the State, whether at the UPS facility 
in Missoula, at Big Sky Wholesale Seeds in Shelby, or at the Billings 
Flying

[[Page H5084]]

Service, have told me their paychecks have grown thanks to the tax 
reform act.
  The owner of 11 fast-food restaurants throughout Montana told me in 
Great Falls that he was giving his employees a raise and increasing 
starting wages for all new employees.
  A teacher in Billings in a public school there told me her monthly 
paycheck grew by over $130.
  Mr. Speaker, certain leaders have described the benefits from tax 
reform, whether bonuses or larger paychecks, as just crumbs. They call 
them crumbs. Tell that to the teacher in Billings who will keep nearly 
$1,600 a year more of her hard-earned money.
  According to a recent survey, small business optimism has reached 
another record high. That confidence is translating into investments 
and more jobs.
  The owner of Westland Seed in Ronan reports he is hiring more people 
because of tax reform.
  At a roundtable discussion about agriculture in Bozeman, a local 
farmer and food processor said tax reform contributed to his decision 
to double his staff from 6 to 12 employees.
  Senior officials at the Boeing facility in Helena indicate they will 
add over 20 new employees this year.
  Montana small businesses credit tax reform for their decisions to 
expand.
  At a roundtable with women small-business owners in Bozeman, one 
entrepreneur said the new tax policies were a big part of her decision 
to launch two new businesses this year.
  Other Montana businesses are making investments thanks to tax reform.
  Loenbro, a Great Falls industrial construction and manufacturing firm 
that employs more than 600, said the tax reform immediately added 15 
percent to their bottom line. Tax reform is leading them to increase 
worker benefits, enhance training programs, and invest in construction 
equipment that will create more jobs.
  Billings Flying Service credits the full expensing provision for its 
decision to purchase new equipment. The company is also investing in 
new research and development for enhanced firefighting equipment
  In addition to larger paychecks, increased investment, greater small 
business confidence, and more good-paying jobs, more than 87 million 
utility customers are seeing lower energy prices.
  Utility companies cite tax reform as the reason they are reducing 
their rates. Montanans are among those benefiting. According to recent 
reports, NorthWestern Energy and Montana-Dakota Utilities have proposed 
cutting their rates thanks to the new tax law.
  Mr. Speaker, certain leaders in this Chamber warned that the tax cuts 
would be Armageddon. I don't know any hardworking Montanans who would 
agree that keeping more of their hard-earned money is Armageddon or 
that job creation is Armageddon or that small businesses succeeding is 
Armageddon or that a lower utility bill is Armageddon.
  Tax reform isn't producing crumbs. Tax reform isn't leading to 
Armageddon. Mr. Speaker, tax reform is working in Montana.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Speaker, as we walk through these, there are fun 
little tidbits to understand.
  Math is complicated and tax revenues--the fact of the matter is we 
are only where we are at in the year, so we are not completely done 
with the fiscal year. But we pulled up, a little while ago, the status 
from the amount of revenues up until April.
  So in the 2017 fiscal year, at that April time, we had taken in $456 
billion in revenues. Revenues come from lots of different sources, but 
substantially they are from the economic activity in our Nation, the 
income tax, corporate tax, payroll taxes, and other things. So it was 
456 last year. This year it is $510 billion.
  So understand that. It is not a complete fiscal year, but as our 
friend from Montana was just saying, there was such hyperbolic language 
from some of our friends on the other side that the world was going to 
come to an end, the fact of the matter is that revenues are blowing the 
doors off from where we thought they would be. This is a wonderful 
thing.
  To tell one of the other stories, I will invite the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Tipton) to tell us what is happening in Colorado.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton).
  Mr. TIPTON. Madam Speaker, I supported the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 
because, as a former small-business owner, I know the immense 
challenges a complex Tax Code can present to business owners, workers, 
and families alike.
  When H.R. 1 was signed into law, it opened the door to a new era of 
prosperity for Colorado and for our country, and the evidence is all 
around us:
  We have already seen over 1 million jobs created;
  Hundreds of companies have contributed $4 billion in bonuses, 
impacting over 4 million workers;
  The unemployment rate is at the lowest level that we have seen in a 
half a century; and
  Small business optimism has hit an all-time high.
  In Alamosa, Colorado, a small town in my district, tax reform has 
helped First Southwest Bank stay in town and provide financial services 
products to its community, a key driver of economic growth and success 
in smaller towns around the country.

  As CEO Kent Curtis said after the passage of tax reform: ``We're 
excited to take advantage of the tax reform and give the positive 
impact it has on First Southwest Bank right back to our team members 
and the rural Colorado community. By being able to provide a higher 
living wages to our starting employees and invest in our team, we can 
be a catalyst for economic growth and reaffirm our commitment to a 
better quality of life in all of the rural Colorado communities our 
branches serve.''
  First Southwest Bank has raised its starting wage to $14 an hour plus 
full benefits, a major success for a small community in southwest 
Colorado.
  It is exactly businesses like this that are committed to their 
communities and to their neighbors that this historic tax reform 
package was intended to help.
  Increased wages, along with changes to the tax bracket and standard 
deduction, mean Coloradans across the Third District have higher 
earning potential and can keep more of their hard-earned money, which 
spells economic growth. These improvements can help families take a 
vacation to one of our beloved national parks, put a down payment on a 
new car or a home, or be able to pay medical expenses.
  Madam Speaker, the effects of this monumental tax reform effort are 
felt right here at home, and I am proud of the Coloradans who are 
working so hard to be able to improve their lives because of the 
opportunity this legislation has presented.
  If I may, I would like to give you one personal story. I was in my 
hometown, and I had the opportunity to be able to go to a local 
restaurant. The young lady who was a server has two children. She went 
out of her way to come up and tell me that the extra $50 to $60 per 
week that she is getting in her paycheck is making a real difference in 
her family's life.
  I told her there is better news actually coming, because when she 
gets ready to file those taxes this coming April 15, she is going to 
find that her personal exemption has doubled and that for her children, 
that child tax credit that she has counted on has doubled as well, 
putting more resources back into the pockets of the people who earn 
that money.
  As my colleague from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert) pointed out, when we 
put those resources back to work, back to work in that American 
economy, we find that it yields what many of our colleagues on the left 
would like to see more of: tax revenues coming into the government to 
be able to provide some of the essential services that we all know that 
we need.
  But we need to be the country that is creating that fertile soil to 
be able to grow businesses, to be able to create opportunity for the 
future, and to be able to deliver on that promise for the American 
Dream for all of our children. This is a program and a policy that 
works on behalf of the American people.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, I have a quick thought experiment for 
everyone.
  If I had come to you a year ago and said that the United States would 
be at 3.8 percent unemployment, you would have laughed at me. If I had 
come to you and said that African American unemployment would be the 
lowest in

[[Page H5085]]

modern times, Hispanic unemployment would be tied with some of the 
lowest numbers in modern times, that you would be seeing data of felons 
being recruited out of prison for work because there is such a labor 
shortage, and when one of the greatest difficulties we have in our 
society right now in the labor force is not enough workers and too many 
jobs, why isn't there this sound of joy from every American that this 
was the dream so many of us had of where we would be?
  So, as we go through our regions, I was going to invite Mr. Curtis of 
Utah to come up and tell us what is happening in that beautiful State 
because I have actually seen some stories of the Salt Lake area and 
other parts of Utah just doing amazingly well right now.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Curtis).
  Mr. CURTIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to first of all express my 
appreciation to my colleague from Arizona for his good words and his 
acknowledgment of the economy in Utah.
  Shortly after I had been elected, one of my very first votes cast in 
this Chamber was for tax reform. Since being signed into law, the 
positive impact tax reform has had on our economy has been absolutely 
astonishing. Not only has tax reform proven to be a tremendous success 
across America, it has proven particularly effective in my home State 
of Utah.
  To simply say the U.S. economy is doing well would be a gross 
understatement. As a member of the Small Business Committee, I believe 
that small businesses are the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, and, 
certainly, they are in my district. That is why I have been pleased to 
see that the small business optimism index has reached its second 
highest level in the survey's 45-year history.
  Consumer confidence is the highest we have seen in decades, and the 
unemployment rate in the United States is currently under 4 percent, 
and in my home State it is nearly 3 percent. In fact, for the first 
time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been keeping track, the 
number of available jobs now exceeds the number of unemployed U.S. 
workers.
  Not only is the unemployment rate historically low, but 90 percent of 
American workers also have had higher take-home pay now as a direct 
result of tax reform. In Utah, we are seeing companies of all sizes 
investing in their employees by giving pay bonuses and raises.
  A few high-profile examples include the Larry H. Miller Group of 
Companies, rewarding 10,000 employees with thousands of dollars in pay 
and bonuses. Zions Bank gave pay raises to 40 percent of its employees 
and thousands in bonuses to nearly 80 percent of its employees, and 
SkyWest Airlines increased bonuses and 401(k) contributions for their 
employees. These are only a few small examples of the many companies 
passing on benefits of tax reform to hardworking Utahns.

  Tax reform is not only helping to put more money in hardworking 
Utahns' paychecks, but also lowering utility rates as well. Dominion 
Energy in Utah and the Division of Public Utilities is passing on $17 
million in tax savings to its customers by lowering energy rates.
  Chris Parker, the division director of Utah Division of Public 
Utilities said: ``Ever since Federal tax reform legislation was passed, 
our division has been working closely with the Public Service 
Commission and utilities to determine the best method to pass on tax 
savings to Utah customers. Consumers should begin seeing lower gas 
bills soon.''
  Madam Speaker, in the past few months, I have held over 50 townhall 
meetings and met with thousands of Utahns. They consistently express 
their appreciation for Congress' passing tax reform. They recognize 
that this historic effort is producing real results for hardworking 
Utah families. Simply put, Utahns are keeping more of their hard-earned 
money and are making more money as a direct result of tax reform, and 
the U.S. economy, for businesses, large and small, is roaring.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, there is actually some really fun and 
wonderful things we are seeing out there in the data. As we were also 
talking about the unemployment numbers, what has also been amazing is, 
if you look at home prices, if you actually look at savings rates, and 
if you actually look at a lot of the data that we care about as a 
society, it is important that we actually embrace and understand we are 
in what we would refer to as a Goldilocks economy.

                              {time}  2045

  Madam Speaker, if I had come to, like our previous thought experiment 
a year ago, and said we would be in this sort of world where the 
inflation numbers are within the calculation of the Fed targets, where 
we have more jobs than workers, when we are actually seeing incomes 
really beginning to rise, when we are actually seeing some first signs 
of data saying for the first time in decades that income inequality is 
actually shrinking because there are so many more of our brothers and 
sisters in the labor force with rising incomes, this would actually be 
really exciting.
  I will make the challenge to every Member in Congress: How do we not 
screw it up? How do we keep that engine going forward?
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko). 
She has the district right alongside me and she will basically tell the 
story of what she sees happening on the west side of Maricopa County.
  Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has ignited a 
fire that the American economy hasn't seen in decades. The tax cuts and 
reforms passed by Congress have made a real impact on the lives of 
Americans across the country and to the people in Arizona's Eighth 
Congressional District.
  The tax cuts have allowed small business owners like Mike and Colleen 
Sutter to reinvest in their employees. They have owned a small business 
for the last 27 years in El Mirage in my district. Due to the tax cuts 
package, Mike and Colleen were able to give across-the-board pay 
increases and bonuses to their employees, including a $3 an hour 
increase for hourly workers.
  This historic tax reform legislation has also had a huge impact on 
those living on fixed incomes. Arizona Public Service Electric Company 
cut its power rates by $119 million because of the tax cuts. These 
lower costs help seniors all over America and in my district.
  With a simpler and fairer Tax Code, businesses are finally able to 
hire again, more than 1 million new jobs have been created, and there 
are more jobs available than there are unemployed Americans. Our Nation 
is in business again.
  Americans are seeing more money in their paychecks, a reduced tax 
burden, and a roaring economy. The tax cuts have meant real dollars 
going back into the pockets of small businesses and families.
  I thank my colleague from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert) for his commitment 
to commonsense tax reform.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Lesko. I am so 
used to calling her Debbie, having known each other for so long.
  What is also amusing here is, the next person I'm going to introduce, 
I have actually known most of my life, which is sort of terrifying. The 
three of us are from Arizona. I think we actually have a wonderful 
story to talk about what is happening in the Southwest, but 
particularly our State.
  The fact of the matter is, with the tax reform, some of the 
regulatory changes, some of the wonderful things in the economy, 
Arizona is blessed. Right now, our State is doing very well.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) to 
tell us a bit about what is happening in the Southeast Valley.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, let me tell you, Maricopa County is the 
fastest growing county in the country; again, by a long shot. That is 
reflected because of the economy that is going on there.
  In the town that I live in, the town of Gilbert, they just announced 
2,500 new jobs coming in with Deloitte. That is fantastic. When I moved 
to Gilbert many years ago, there were 12,000 people and cotton fields 
everywhere. Today, it is 250,000 people and it is just gigantic.
  The Arizona Free Enterprise Club has measured the reported job growth 
in Arizona since the tax cuts and tax reform bill came forward. We have 
125,000

[[Page H5086]]

workers who have seen increases in salaries or bonuses. That totals 
$215 million. Remember, that is just the reported benefits and bonuses 
and raises. The direct financial benefit as a result of tax reform for 
Arizona is over $1 billion. We anticipate a positive impact of over $1 
billion in 2018. That is fantastic. In my district, the average family 
of four is going to receive tax relief in excess of $2,635. That is the 
projection.
  I can talk about the many events that we go to, the people we talk 
to. I was at an event recently. I was getting ready to leave and a 
gentleman came up to me and said: Are you Congressman Biggs?
  I said: Yes, I am.
  He said: Thank you.
  I said: Why is that?
  He said: The tax reform. I am a bartender. I will keep $5,000 more 
this year. I will have a net impact of a positive $5,000.
  I said: Well, do you care if I tell your story?
  He said: Yes, tell my story.
  We want to see this happen again and again. So I have a whole list I 
brought tonight. I can list Philip from Mesa who said that his wife's 
take-home pay has affected their household for the better. This is 
something they wanted specifically to mention. They don't consider the 
extra income to be ``crumbs.'' It is meaningful to people, whether you 
are living paycheck to paycheck or whatever. This is meaningful to 
them.
  Matt from Gilbert said that his increased tax refund for his business 
was appreciated and that he and his family will save literally 
thousands of dollars this year because of the tax cut laws.
  Rusty is a veteran from Mesa. He told us that the tax plan has done 
wonders for him and his small business. He is passing this on to his 
employees and they will be making more money per month and he has extra 
revenue in the business because other people generate this economic 
activity.
  This ripples through--it isn't like it is a one-off--it ripples 
through the entire economy. So they have hired a new employee. For a 
small business, that is a monumental decision: Do we have 
enough business? Do we have enough revenue to bring in a new employee? 
They hired someone. The tax cuts helped.

  So I want to take just a quick second and tell you that I go out when 
I am in the district to various businesses and small business owners, 
anywhere from 5, 15, maybe 20, 25 people in their business. Every one 
of them that I have met with in the last year, probably, is looking to 
expand. They have the problem of finding qualified employees.
  I have talked to the Governor in Arizona. We have literally hundreds 
of thousands of jobs where people are trying to hire folks and we can't 
get them in. This is a great thing to have, it is a great problem to 
have. I think we should be celebrating what is happening around this 
country. Particularly as a life-long Arizonan, I can tell you I am 
thrilled to see this happening in Arizona. We have bounced back from 
the 2008 recession.
  I am so grateful for the effort that the gentleman from Arizona has 
put in to get this bill through, for his leadership. I am grateful to 
have him for a friend and serve with him in Congress. I thank him for 
doing this Special Order tonight. This message has got to get out to 
the American people.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, I will have a little bit of a colloquy 
or a little bit of a conversation with the gentleman.
  For those of us in Arizona, the gentleman has seen the data that came 
out about 2 weeks ago that turns out that Arizona is actually having 
what would be the fastest acceleration of income growth in the entire 
Nation. Some of that is because we were hit pretty hard in 2008. A lot 
of it is because our State legislature, our Governor, have engaged in 
very pro-economic expanded qualities.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman to tell everyone what he did 
before taking this job.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I used to be the Senate president in the 
State of Arizona for 4 years and had an opportunity to work there.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, the gentleman was there during some of 
the brutal years of the previous decade. The gentleman may remember the 
struggles of trying to keep the wheels on of how do you cover 
healthcare, education, and so many of the other needs that are in the 
State.
  Actually, we have a rough situation. We own so little of our land 
that I have seen some data where we are the most urbanized State in the 
country because we functionally live in two major metroplexes. That is 
where most of our population is. And to have a State now, where we are 
seeing some revenue forecasts and every month it looks like they are 
having to raise that forecast because of the economic vitality in our 
State and most of the States around the country.
  So I think there is often this misnomer of we talk about Federal tax 
reform. And I hold up a chart, it says: Last year at this time, we had 
$456 billion in revenue and this year we are at this time $510 billion. 
So a substantial increase.
  But I think we failed to talk about what is happening in our 
community, in our city, our county, and our State revenues, which are 
also benefiting from this cascade of economic expansion.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, let's think about this for a second.
  When Arizona entered the recession era of 2008, the State tax revenue 
declined by about 40 percent in an 8-month period. Imagine trying to 
deal with that. What is happening now is the converse. We had to change 
our attitude. We had to create the type of business-friendly situation 
that lured and brought business back and provide those enticements. 
They are there.
  So what we have now is this situation localized of a business-
friendly Tax Code, a business-friendly regulatory and then an overall 
attitude of: We want you to be here. We welcome new businesses.
  So, for instance, I toured Apple world data center in my district a 
little over a week ago. It kind of imploded, so there was no one there. 
What happened is, they now have 200 employees and they will expand. 
They will have 500 employees in high-paying, good jobs. Every one of 
those employees they spend money. They buy houses. They go out to eat. 
They go to movies. This ripples through the economy. And that is just 
one of the many businesses. Like I said, we have Deloitte coming in, 
with 2,500. We have got State Farm, I think, in or near the gentleman's 
district. When they are in, they are going to have 8,000 to 10,000 
people. I was just at their facility.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, we just finished a visit to the 
McKesson facility that is on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian 
Community, and they are talking about several hundred additional 
positions.
  As we sort of talk about this, we actually had a really neat 
experience about a month ago. The Arizona correctional system has sort 
of a pilot program that has been up and running for about a year.

  So picture this. We are in the Ways and Means room, we are holding a 
hearing. And sitting on the table before us is the woman who is a 
friend of ours who is the Central Arizona Homebuilders representative 
and over here is a gentleman with a very large electrical contracting 
company. The person sitting in the middle there with tattoos and those 
sorts of things is, I think, a three-time convicted felon who actually 
now is making $22 an hour and telling the story of how he had a 
substance abuse problem and had multiple times fallen back into that 
lifestyle. This time, he actually said: I am going to give this a try.
  They set up job training in the prison solely funded by the 
businesses, because they actually need electricians and carpenters and 
other things. They did the job training in the prison with a deal that 
if they finish this program, we will guarantee you a job. It doesn't 
mean they guarantee they are going to keep you, because you still have 
got to show up, you have to demonstrate productivity.
  But think about a world where the economy is so vibrant that 
businesses are actually going and reaching into our prison communities 
and doing job training and actually offering employment.
  I guess my heartbreak is I thought there would be this sense of joy 
around

[[Page H5087]]

here in Washington that we have actually passed a level that so many 
economists just a couple of years ago said we could never reach, this 
level of economic vitality, where we are actually seeing felons being 
able to be pulled into society's workforce.

                              {time}  2100

  We see programs like that in our State that are being creative, 
because we need those carpenters; we need those plumbers; we need those 
electricians. He started, I guess, at like $13 an hour. Within a year, 
he was up to $22, because he was productive, and he showed up to work 
on time.
  He had one of the greatest quotes of all time. He says: I am working 
so many hours, I haven't had a chance to relapse.
  It turns out maybe there is something to that saying about idle 
hands.
  Mr. BIGGS. If you analyze it, that is a twofer, right? We are all 
concerned about the rehabilitation and reentry of people who have been 
in prison back into society. This is one way to do it. Give them an 
opportunity to get that skill and get job-placed.
  The second thing is--and it speaks specifically to what we are 
talking about here today--we should be overjoyed in this country to see 
the economic vibrancy that is going on, the reshaping, and, if I can 
say it, the renewal, the economic renewal, that we have needed.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. I am one of the people who have to actually admit to 
this, that, often, as Republicans, we sound like accountants on 
steroids. We are looking at the numbers. We want to do policy by facts 
and not feelings, because when you do things by feelings, you end up, 
ultimately, hurting people. When you do it by facts, you actually build 
something that is sustainable.
  This is one of the moments where a lot of the economic theories we 
have talked about, if you would lighten and go to a more rational 
regulatory model, if you would design a Tax Code that got rid of these 
incentives to move your profits overseas and pull your expenses into 
the United States and go to a territorial system where you had the 
vitality, where capital would flow in, where you actually gave 
businesses the incentive to actually buy much more efficient capital 
equipment--because the way you pay people more is we have to get more 
productive as a society.
  Yes, some of the barriers we were worried about were: Will folks get 
this tax benefit and spend it all? Now we have seen some data, which is 
different than how CBO modeled it. People are paying off debt and other 
things, so the capital stock in our country is going up.
  There are just really good things. Right now, we have a labor 
shortage, and you can see something amazing.
  Take a look at things like Social Security Disability. A year ago, it 
had only like a year before the trust fund was empty. Now we are seeing 
some things that it may be 5, 7, 8 years now, just substantially 
because we did change some rules, and we tightened up.
  We also have so many more people paying in and working, and many of 
our brothers and sisters in the country making a decision saying: ``I 
could pursue a disability claim, or I could go into the workforce.'' 
They are going into the workforce.
  So there are all these tells out there right now. The gentleman sees 
it in his community. I am blessed to see it in my community.
  How do we keep it going? Because, it turns out, the economic vitality 
is a powerful thing for families, their ability to save for their 
retirement, for their kids' education, for being able to pay off, let's 
face it, a certain amount of debt that built up over a pretty rough 
decade, particularly being a State like ours with so many people who 
are coming to it for opportunity.
  As the gentleman talks to small businesses, and I talk to small 
businesses and even big businesses, we have this conversation: How do 
we keep it going, and how do we keep it going for as long as possible?
  Those are the policies we are chasing.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I agree with the gentleman. We want to keep 
it going. We follow this idea of a business cycle, but there are ways 
to smooth out and flatten out that business cycle.
  I also agree with what the gentleman said where we start talking 
about individuals, because too often our narrative is just: How do we 
flatten out the business cycle? That type of thing.
  I have Allan in Mesa who said: My standard of living has gone up.
  I have Dottie in Mesa who said that the tax cuts are a good thing, 
that they see more money in their pockets because of these tax cuts.
  These are the people and the individuals that I see on a regular 
basis. I know the gentleman sees them.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. This is one of my favorite stories. About 6 weeks 
ago, maybe 2 months ago, I believe it was Starbucks that gave the 
bonus, and I am in my favorite Starbucks. As the gentleman knows, I 
have a coffee problem and openly admit it. If anyone wants to start a 
12-step program, we are holding the meetings at a coffee shop.
  I walk in. I am not someone you typically would be jumping up and 
down to see, you know, a fairly conservative Republican Congressman. 
She looks at me and goes: ``Dude, thank you.''
  She had just gotten, I guess, a bonus check from her employer, and 
she actually understood what it meant monetarily to her. It was one of 
the neatest conversations I had with this young woman as I am ordering 
my coffee about how excited she was to have the money and what it meant 
to her to pay off some bills and just how things were going.
  That is when it starts to click. That is when it is more than just 
sitting behind tables with stacks of binders and spreadsheets and 
analytical reports and feedback loops of what the tax reform is going 
to do and growing the size of the economy, when it gets down to those 
individual lives.
  Look, I often walk around with this app. It is from the Atlanta 
Federal Reserve. Madam Speaker, if I had come to you even months ago 
and said: ``The Atlanta Federal Reserve has the calculation for this 
quarter, at this moment, at a 4.6 percent GDP growth,'' you would have 
worried about my mental health. It turns out, that is actually what the 
number is.
  The odds are that it doesn't stay there, and it is going to go 
through cycles, but that number is stunning. The bias has been, 
actually, over 4 in the last handful of data points. I know I am back 
to speaking like an accountant on steroids, but the fact of the matter 
is that we have some pretty rough things coming toward us as a society. 
We are getting older very fast. We have tremendous unfunded liabilities 
in Medicare. We have issues on Social Security.

  We will find a way to keep our promises to those folks who have paid 
into those programs. Turns out, making the math work is a lot easier if 
you have a society, an economy, that has actually been able to hold 
economic growth rather than one that has been in the troughs as we were 
for the previous decade.
  How do we sort of tell that story to folks who may be on the left or 
those who are just trying to raise their families or those of us who 
our constituents are paying attention? This really is that moment where 
the rising tide raises boats and opportunity for everyone.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, the gentleman is right. That is how you 
communicate the story, because the story, Madam Speaker and 
Representative Schweikert, is that we can have a vital economy.
  It wasn't too many years ago when we were told 1.8 percent GDP growth 
would be it.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, I remember when the gentleman first 
got here, and we were going over those models. They were like 1.8, 1.9, 
and that was our future. Let's face it, we have blown that off the 
rails.
  Mr. BIGGS. We have blown it off the rails. When people are 
economically free and they have growth. They feel freer. They feel 
happier. Why is that? Because the wolf is not always at the door. They 
have moved beyond kind of that bare subsistence.
  That is really what I am finding as I go meet with my constituents. I 
talk to them. I am in a machine shop: What is going on here?
  Well, we have 18 workers. We think we could bring three more on.
  I said: Well, what is your problem?
  We have to find the workers, and we have to train them. We are going 
to invest in them and train them.

[[Page H5088]]

  That is what people are doing. That is what businesses, small and 
large, are doing. They are investing in people now. That is what you 
see when you have a good economy, because they want to bring people in. 
They need to bring people in.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. In that same vein, it was only a couple of years ago, 
actually behind these same mikes, that a discussion was had of the sort 
of concept of people being trapped, trapped in their house because they 
were underwater, trapped in their job because they didn't have mobility 
and options.
  For a State like Arizona, the fact of the matter is that your ability 
to sell your home and get a job in another State because you are 
choosing to move to the Southwest is important to our growth. You could 
actually see that in the migration statistics around the country of how 
many people, because of the thin employment market, job opportunities, 
were underwater in their homes.
  As the job opportunities and our real estate values and the stability 
of the economy have come back, all of a sudden, you are seeing people 
have this thing called choice, options, the ability to move around the 
country, pursue their dreams, pursue those careers, change jobs.
  I think, actually, that is what the American Dream is supposed to 
look like. If you have a dream of living in a certain part of the 
country or pursuing a certain career, you get to do it. You get to do 
it because the economy is working.
  Madam Speaker, as we started to talk early on, if you really do love 
and care for people, take a look at what is happening to the income and 
employment statistics of so many groups that have been disaffected in 
our population for the last decade. They had a really rough decade, and 
they are coming back, their opportunity, their ability to save for 
their retirement, their future, and their kids.
  There should be a sense of joy. There should be, actually, sort of a 
uniform discussion between the right and the left of how we keep it 
going, because it is not only things I fixate on, of being able to have 
revenues or being able to cover our unfunded liabilities and our 
entitlements, but also that ability to have a society that is 
healthier, that actually the income gaps shrink because there is 
mobility and growth.
  Populations that so many of the so-called smart people, the 
economists, had almost written off as the marginally employable--which 
is, if you take a step sideways, it is just really cruel. Those people 
are finding a way to come back into the economic part of our society.
  I know when the gentleman was in the State legislature, he had worked 
on a job training program, and now we are actually seeing some really 
interesting data in Arizona where the employers themselves are saying: 
We are so desperate for employees, we will do the job training. We will 
take someone who is not even from our field, and we will train them.
  It turns out that has been incredibly successful, because you are 
actually trained not in a job training program over here and then you 
get trained again for the actual job you have taken, but now you are 
being trained for that rhythm.
  I know there has been just tremendous employment growth in the 
southeast valley. I think it is a type of high-tech CNC machine shop 
that some friends own in the gentleman's district, and they are talking 
about even taking in very young people and training them right there on 
site.
  Mr. BIGGS. Yes. Madam Speaker and Congressman Schweikert, that is 
what I am talking about. When I go into the machine shops, they are 
doing very technical, very high-quality machining. They are bringing 
kids out of high school, and they are training them. They are saying: 
This is the job you are going to get.
  These kids are walking out without any university debt. They are also 
walking into a job that is going to pay them a lot of money and can be 
a great career, where they can make money and have an adequate career 
to sustain and support themselves, their family, for a life.

  This is really one of the beautiful things that happens when you have 
this choice that the gentleman talked about, this mobility. That 
happens when you have a strong and solid economy.
  Madam Speaker, I think the gentleman and I would agree: The economic 
foundation that allows these types of individuals and families and 
small businesses and big businesses to grow and provide interesting and 
creative developments in our society, it starts with us not having a 
confiscatory tax policy. It also continues by having a regulatory 
environment that, instead of disincentivizing or having perverse 
incentives, provides incentives for people to expand and be creative in 
the economy.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, I ask Congressman Biggs: Those of us 
who see these numbers, how do we find a way to humanize that 
discussion? We want to talk about economic vitality and these things, 
but there is almost this cruelty of you are going to remain unemployed, 
you are going to remain underemployed, you are going to remain 
undercompensated, you are not educated well enough to come into the 
mainstream.
  We have demonstrated in the last several months that that doesn't 
have to be the America we live in, that we are seeing individuals who 
were substantially marginalized in our society finding employment and 
finding opportunity and finding that economic vitality and growth.

                              {time}  2115

  We are looking for a way to humanize the story that, it turns out, a 
robust economy actually is really good for families, for individuals, 
for your future, for just the individual psyche. And maybe there is an 
artist out there of language who can help us find an elegant way to say 
this story.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, he did a good job tonight. He talked about 
his Starbucks experience. He talked about the young man, and I have met 
him, who is reentering from the prison.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, it is a powerful story.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, these are powerful stories.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, I think he is his constituent.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I think he is. He may be, yes.
  We have talked about 8 to 10 stories, brief stories, that I brought 
up tonight of individuals, and, if I can humbly suggest, those are the 
things that, Madam Speaker, Congressman Schweikert, myself, and every 
one of our colleagues need to be continually reiterating, because these 
stories, these aren't one-off stories. These are going to be a lifetime 
of stories for these individuals, and we will find many, many more, as 
I do every time I go out.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Madam Speaker, I know I kept him longer than I 
promised to, but I never get the chance to talk.
  Madam Speaker, I have appreciated this block of time. I appreciate 
your patience with us, particularly talking about Arizona, but it is--
you know, we love our State, and we are very, very proud of how far it 
has come. We are proud of the fact that we are leading much of the 
Nation in growth--in population growth, economic growth, income 
growth--and it is, in many ways, our moral goal around here to keep 
this vitality up for every American.
  Whether you live in a red State, blue State, whatever you pursue, you 
should have the ability and the opportunity to pursue that. We want to 
make the powerful argument that where we have gotten this country to 
economically right now is pretty darn amazing.
  Now, can we do even more? Our goal is we are going to even make it 
better.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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