[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 140 (Wednesday, August 22, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5791-S5792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ECONOMIC GROWTH

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this week, I have been highlighting 
some of the examples of the strength of the U.S. economy. The people of 
West Virginia, where President Trump visited yesterday evening, are no 
exception to this national trend.
  During the Obama years, West Virginia's economy was hit hard. 
Manufacturing employment shrunk by 13 percent. Coal and logging 
employment shrunk by 38 percent. But today things are different. The 
State's unemployment rate has been lowered during each of the past 19 
months under this united Republican government than it was during any 
month of the Obama administration. Coal jobs are surging back, and 
according to one industry estimate, in 2017, West Virginia saw faster 
growth in construction jobs than any other State.
  As Senator Capito explained in a recent op-ed, figures like these are 
more evidence that Republican policies are helping her State and the 
entire country write a new chapter. Senator Capito recently shared with 
me that in Wheeling, WV, the owners of Warwood Tool are creating a new 
line of products thanks to the new flexibility brought about by tax 
reform. In Wellsburg, Eagle Manufacturing is buying new machinery. In 
Jane Lew, Doss Enterprises is planning to hire up to 30 new workers. It 
is really amazing when we remember that only one of West Virginia's 
Senators voted for the tax reform policies that helped make all of this 
good news possible.
  As Senator Capito notes, recent months' promising economic numbers 
and all the new opportunities they represent are only the beginning. 
Tax reform will also help strengthen our economic foundation for the 
long term.
  In particular, one provision of the tax rewrite will specifically 
help the most depressed communities in our Nation. It will turn these 
areas into opportunity zones that are especially attractive for 
investment. The Treasury Department has already certified zones in 
every State, including 55 in West Virginia and 144 in my home State of 
Kentucky. Nearly 35 million Americans live in communities within the 
newly designated opportunity zones. Together, they have an average 
poverty

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rate of around 32 percent. This program is just one of so many ways 
that Republican policies are providing a boost to the very communities 
that Democratic policies systematically left behind.
  The opportunity zones, by the way, were the idea of Senator Tim Scott 
from South Carolina, who was able to insert them into the pay raise--
into the tax reform bill.
  So there are bonuses, pay raises, and tax cuts for middle-class 
families today and the foundation for more investment and more jobs 
tomorrow.

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