[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 26, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H7076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DEFINITION OF RECESSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Rose) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROSE. Madam Speaker, on Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis 
will release its second quarter gross domestic product numbers, an 
overall measure of our country's economic output from April through 
June.
  For decades, a ``recession'' has been defined as two consecutive 
quarters of negative economic growth. Therefore, if Thursday's second 
quarter GDP number is in the negative, then by definition, the United 
States economy will be in a recession.
  However, that won't stop the White House from doing everything it can 
to deny the obvious. In fact, the White House Council of Economic 
Advisers is actively trying to change the definition of the word 
``recession.''
  In a blog published on July 21 titled: ``How Do Economists Determine 
Whether the Economy is in a Recession?'' the White House argues that 
``it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this 
year--even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter--
indicates a recession.''
  I hope those students who will be taking economics 101 in the fall 
are taking notes because the Biden administration is attempting to 
change the decades-old answers to the test questions for purely 
political purposes.
  Instead of President Biden and his administration attempting to bait 
and switch the public on the definition of a recession, they should 
change course on their policies that are crushing our economy and 
creating significant pain for millions of Americans.
  President Biden's disastrous economic policies are having a ripple 
effect on the housing market, on gas and food prices, real wages, and, 
of course, overall inflation. Now, we will find out on Thursday 
whether, by definition, we are in a recession.
  Madam Speaker, it didn't have to be this way. We didn't have to 
borrow and spend ourselves into this mess. The President didn't need to 
cancel the Keystone Pipeline. He didn't need to restrict new oil and 
gas leases on public lands. He didn't need to create new regulations on 
every sector of the economy through the Securities and Exchange 
Commission and other bureaucratic government agencies.
  Thankfully, the days of complete Democratic Party rule in Washington 
are likely coming to an end. The American people are fed up with their 
leftwing economic policies and will reject them soundly at the voting 
booth in November.

  Until then, Republicans like me who stand for fiscal conservatism 
will continue to call them out and hope for more accountability.
  At the end of the day, the President is responsible for this economic 
mess he created. He must do better. If he can't, Republicans will.

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