[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 143 (Sunday, August 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6032-S6034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE ECONOMY
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have been listening to criticism from
the other side of the aisle about our plan to improve American
families' economic security and the long-term strength in our economy.
And I have to wonder, why do Republicans never worry about deficits
when they are passing trillion-dollar tax cuts that shower nearly all
of the benefits on millionaires and wealthy corporations?
Why do Republicans only rediscover a concern about the debt when they
are asked to support policies to help middle-class, working families,
low-income
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individuals--people struggling to get into the middle class?
Or when someone proposes a long-term solution to make America's
economy resilient and more prosperous for everyone, they are opposed to
that. That is ``big spending.''
Republican welfare for the rich has always been a bad investment.
Forty years of trickle-down economics has given America the greatest
income inequality since the Gilded Age in our history and the largest
national debt in our history. Republicans' devotion to trickle-down tax
cuts has given us a shrinking middle class, a hollowed-out industrial
base, and crumbling infrastructure. It has made a small sliver of
America lavishly wealthy and left the rest behind.
The Republican economic agenda has left the majority of Americans
asking: How are we supposed to pay for childcare, our kids' college
education, medical bills, or for the skilled nurses that mom and dad
are going to need? Will we ever be able to retire?
Trickle-down economics doesn't have answers for those real-life
questions, but our Republican colleagues keep doubling down on them.
I predict, without fear of contradiction, now that we have a
Democratic President, someone on the Republican side of the aisle will
come around again with a balanced budget constitutional amendment. It
happens without fail. Republicans always turn to that whenever there is
a Democratic President, even though the debt that President inherited
was historic.
But when their trickle-down tax cuts add trillions to the national
debt, are they really worried?
They never say a word about deficit and debt until they are in the
minority.
Donald Trump proposed more than a trillion dollars in tax cuts, with
most of the benefits going to wealthy corporations and individuals.
Did the Republicans complain about the national debt then? No.
Did they insist that such an expensive gift must have bipartisan
support? No.
They passed their trickle-down tax cut through reconciliation without
a single Democratic vote.
Donald Trump promised that his tax cut would be ``rocket fuel for the
economy.''
That may be a rare Trump boast that turned out to be true, although
not exactly the way he meant it. We now have a handful of billionaires
who have decided to launch their own personal space programs. They are
so wealthy they are racing each other into space while regular working
people worry about rent, childcare, and getting on here on Earth.
The Trump tax cut gave the wealthiest Americans a fat windfall.
According to Americans for Tax Fairness, the Nation's 651 billionaires
saw their net worth spike by more than $1 trillion during the first 9
months of the pandemic while the rest of America worried about how to
pay the bills with a smaller paycheck or no paycheck at all.
After Donald Trump signed his tax bill, surrounded by quite a few of
my Republican colleagues in the Senate, he headed to a Christmas Eve
dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, and like Santa Claus, he announced to
the wealthy members at his own private club at Mar-a-Lago: ``You all
just got richer.'' That was the real effect of the Trump tax cuts--the
real intent.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2018 that Trump tax cuts
will add $1.9 trillion to the national debt over 11 years. Where is the
Republican outcry over that? The notion of $3 trillion to help working
families pay less for the essentials of life, to cut their taxes, and
give them an opportunity to be in an economy creating jobs really pales
in comparison to the $1.9 trillion of tax cuts to the wealthy.
Economists at the London School of Economics analyzed the effects of
trickle-down tax cuts over 50 years, 1965 to 2015. They found that
trickle-down tax cuts consistently benefit the wealthy but had no
meaningful effect on employment or economic growth, and they led
inevitably to wider economic inequality.
The authors of the study were asked why some politicians still
continue to push for these tax cuts for wealthy people. They pointed to
one reason: the power of wealthy individuals and corporations to set
policy agendas through their lobbying and campaign contributions.
You know what is going on, the fabulously wealthy people, who are
contributing to politicians and causes that support their lifestyle,
but they don't want us to know.
Is that why no Republican Senator supports President Biden's Build
Back Better plan to help American families and our economy, because
billionaires have more lobbyists and deeper pockets than struggling
kids and families?
Two renowned economists from Princeton University--Alan Blinder,
former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Mark Watson--looked at
the major economic indicators of America's economy for every President
back to Franklin Roosevelt.
They found by almost any major indicator--gross domestic product,
employment, incomes, productivity, even stock prices--America's economy
has grown significantly faster under Democratic Presidents than
Republican. On jobs, since 1933, the six Presidents who presided over
the fastest job growth have all been Democrats--the four Presidents
with the slowest job growth, Republicans.
Donald Trump campaigned, promising to be the ``greatest jobs
President God ever created.'' There were 3 million fewer jobs when he
left office than at the beginning of his term. He is the first
President since Herbert Hoover to lose jobs on his watch.
The Democrats are once again cleaning up the Republican mess. With
the help of the American Rescue Plan, which not a single Republican
Senator or Congressman supported, America's economy has added 4 million
jobs during the first 6 months of Joe Biden's Presidency. That is the
fastest growth for the start of any President ever in American history.
Here is another fact from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Between 1953 and 2020, America's economy was in a recession for 23
percent of the time that the Republicans held the White House, compared
to just 4 percent of the time that a Democrat sat in the Oval Office.
For the past 40 years, Republican Presidents have run up larger
deficits than Democrats. Let me say that again. In the past 40 years,
Republican Presidents have run up larger deficits than Democratic
Presidents.
Donald Trump promised to get rid of the national debt in 8 years
through trade policy. Instead, his trade policies were a costly
disaster, and the national debt skyrocketed by more than $7 trillion
during his tenure.
A ProPublica-Washington Post analysis found that growth in annual
deficit under Donald Trump is the third-biggest increase relative to
the size of the economy of any U.S. President, with his tax cuts being
the major culprit.
I could go on citing facts and figures. Democrats look at human
priorities like quality childcare, medical research, renewable energy,
and climate resilience, investments that grow the economy and raise
wages and living standards for everyone.
We should have no apologies as Democrats for the programs that we
support, particularly when it comes to climate change. That is a fact
of life, sadly, in America, and we see the results reported every night
on the news. Whether it is fires or extraordinary weather events, they
are happening with increased frequency. It seems that Republicans
ignore that reality. We cannot afford as a nation to do that any
longer.
History shows that our approaches work in responding to many of these
challenges. Our solutions produce stronger, more sustainable economic
growth that benefits everyone. Stronger economic growth allows us to
pay down our debt rather than continuing to add to it with more tax
cuts for the top 1 percent.
Republicans can refuse to support our plan to Build Back Better; that
is their choice. But please spare us lectures about fiscal
responsibility. There is nothing responsible about repeating the same
trillion-dollar mistake over and over and making small businesses and
working families pay for it.
I always thought the Laffer curve, which is the inspiration to the
Republicans for trickle-down economics, was the most appropriately
named economic device in history--it is a ``laugher''--and we see over
and over again
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why that is. Giving tax breaks to the wealthy might make for a happy
Christmas at Mar-a-Lago but not for the rest of the country.
The real test is not whether we put votes on the board--and that is
the bottom line in the Senate--but whether the center will hold,
whether or not we have a strong enough center in the Senate dedicated
to responsible investment and infrastructure and can overcome the
forces outside.
Former President Trump has been making all these speeches about how
bad it is to have an infrastructure program. Well, I would just like to
remind the former President: He had no infrastructure program. Talked
big. Delivered nothing. Now, we have a chance under President Biden to
have one that is bipartisan in nature and truly will help this economy
and this country over the long run.
In addition, I believe that we have to move further--and we certainly
will with the budget resolution--in investing in America. The notion of
having childcare--quality childcare--available and affordable to
families is something that, unless you are a grandparent or a parent
and know the reality, you may overlook and shouldn't. It is a critical
factor in family welfare and good outcomes for children.
In addition, 2 extra years of education beyond the 12th grade,
provided by our quality community colleges across America, is the
ticket for better jobs and better training and better workers in the
21st century.
As we stand here, our major challenge, I suppose--our nemesis, foe--
is China. Some of us can remember something called ping-pong diplomacy,
which occurred roughly when I came out of college. That was opening up
what we called ``Red China'' then to the world and giving them an
opportunity to compete and to be part of the world conversation, and it
happened dramatically.
I remember visiting China several times and the first time, watching
them in their Mao jackets on their bicycles, taking their kids to
school. What I found in later visits was a really developed economy.
The Chinese have a plan. They are mercantilists first, and they are
marketing around the world successfully--successfully--because they
have a plan. We don't have a plan, not until this President arrived.
President Joe Biden has started this plan by saying: First, we invest
in our people and make certain that their lives are easier and
successful. I support him completely in that effort. I hope many will.
It should be bipartisan. If we have sympathy for the wealthiest in our
country, I beg my Republican friends: Have some sympathy for the
middle-income families, who are struggling every day to get by.
I yield the floor.
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