[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 154 (Monday, September 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6191-S6192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. 
        Bennet, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Brown, Mr. Coons, Ms. 
        Cortez Masto, Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Harris, Ms. 
        Hirono, Mr. Jones, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Reed, Mr. Sanders, Mr. 
        Van Hollen, Ms. Warren, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Wyden, and Ms. 
        Hassan):
  S. 3440. A bill to require the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the 
Department of Commerce to provide estimates relating to the 
distribution of aggregate economic growth across specific percentile 
groups of income; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 3440

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Measuring Real Income Growth 
     Act of 2018''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Economic inequality in the United States has increased 
     dramatically during the 4 decades preceding the date of 
     enactment of this Act, with fewer households taking home a 
     larger share of the national income.
       (2) While growth was once distributed relatively evenly 
     across all individuals in the United States, research shows 
     that economic gains are increasingly enjoyed by the most 
     affluent. By contrast, the majority of individuals in the 
     United States have seen income and wage growth significantly 
     below what is suggested by national measures of output and 
     income.
       (3) The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of 
     Commerce (referred to in this section as ``BEA'') reports 
     annual and quarterly estimates of gross domestic product 
     (referred to in this section as ``GDP'') in the United 
     States. These estimates are important measures of the overall 
     size and health of the economy of the United States but do 
     not describe how economic gains are distributed across the 
     population of the United States.
       (4) In a country of 325,000,000 individuals, top-line GDP 
     numbers do not capture the full range of household economic 
     experiences and may be misleading. The real GDP grew more 
     than 3 percent annually between 2003 and 2005, but the 
     average income for \1/2\ of all individuals in the United 
     States fell during that period.
       (5) Disaggregating economic growth by income groups will 
     provide a more complete picture of how families in the United 
     States are faring across all rungs of the economic ladder and 
     whether economic growth is benefiting all individuals in the 
     United States.
       (6) Recent academic estimates of distributional growth show 
     how much of the economic gains during the 40 years preceding 
     the date of enactment of this Act have accrued to the top of 
     the income distribution. Between 1980 and 2014, the average 
     income of the top 1 percent of the income distribution grew 5 
     times as much as the average income of the bottom 90 percent 
     of the income distribution and more than 9 times as much as 
     the average income of the bottom \1/2\.
       (7) Official and timely estimates of distributional growth 
     from BEA, reported alongside top-line GDP numbers, would 
     enable Congress to better evaluate economic policies that 
     impact every individual in the United States.
       (8) Efforts to address slow wage growth, stagnant incomes, 
     and growing economic inequality require broadening the focus 
     beyond GDP and obtaining metrics that better correspond to 
     the experiences of all families in the United States.

     SEC. 3. ESTIMATES OF AGGREGATE ECONOMIC GROWTH ACROSS INCOME 
                   GROUPS.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Bureau.--The term ``Bureau'' means the Bureau of 
     Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce.
       (2) Gross domestic product analysis.--The term ``gross 
     domestic product analysis''--
       (A) means a quarterly or annual analysis conducted by the 
     Bureau with respect to the gross domestic product of the 
     United States; and
       (B) includes a revision prepared by the Bureau of an 
     analysis described in subparagraph (A).
       (3) Recent estimate.--The term ``recent estimate'' means 
     the most recent estimate described in subsection (b) that is 
     available on the date on which the gross domestic product 
     analysis with which the estimate is to be included is 
     conducted.
       (b) Inclusion in Reports.--Beginning in 2020, in each gross 
     domestic product analysis

[[Page S6192]]

     conducted by the Bureau, the Bureau shall include a recent 
     estimate of, with respect to specific percentile groups of 
     income, the total amount that was added to the economy of the 
     United States during the period to which the recent estimate 
     pertains, including in--
       (1) each of the 10 deciles of income; and
       (2) the highest 1 percent of income.
       (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce such sums as 
     are necessary to carry out this section.

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