[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23678]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          AMERICA'S RECESSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, on September 11 our Nation was mercilessly 
attacked in New York and in the Pentagon, and we may well have been 
made subject to biological attacks through the mail since, even some of 
which arrived at my own congressional office.
  The impact of these attacks on our country is incalculable. It has 
been emotional. It has resulted in spiritual renewal in our country. It 
has resulted in military activity overseas and activity by the Justice 
Department in criminal investigations of a historic scope here in 
America. And, yes, the consequences of September 11 have been economic 
as well.
  The reality is that what we found out this week, Mr. Speaker, is that 
beginning in March of this year and manifested in newspapers around 
America on Tuesday, we are in fact in a recession. All people around 
America know is recession is defined as when there are two consecutive 
quarters of net negative growth in the GDP, and that sad news arrived 
on the door steps of Americans this week.
  Well, the reality is that the events of September 11, Mr. Speaker, 
contributed to a weak economy spiraling even further into recession, 
the recession in which we find ourselves today. Now, these facts may 
seem obvious. They may not even seem worthy of taking the time of this 
august Chamber today; but they are not apparently obvious to our 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who we are told in 
newspapers around America today including the front page of USA Today 
that political attack ads will be launched beginning this weekend in 
markets all across America deriding the George Bush recession.
  Let me say again, labeling the economic downturn as the George Bush 
recession, a key Democrat announced plans Thursday for her party's 
first political ad campaign since the attacks on America on September 
11.
  So I rise today to simply ask the question, Mr. Speaker, whose 
recession is this? Is it in fact the George Bush recession? Well, let 
us begin with the facts. As I mentioned earlier a recession is two 
consecutive quarters of net negative growth in the GDP. That means that 
the recession in which we find ourselves began on March 1.
  I seem to remember that the Presidential campaign was quite divisive. 
That in fact George W. Bush was not able to form his government until 
into January and, therefore, he had been President of the United States 
for approximately 5 weeks, Mr. Speaker, when this recession arrived. 
Now that to me is an extraordinary judo throw for any human being or 
any administration. In 5 weeks we are to believe that George W. Bush 
was such a repellent on the American economy that he drove us into a 
recession. That is obviously absurd.
  But some might be quick on my side of the aisle to say this is not a 
George Bush recession we are in. It is a Bill Clinton recession we are 
in and there is certainly evidence to suggest that.
  Manufacturers in the automotive industry and the diesel industry in 
the east central Indiana district that I serve have said that their 
orders were off beginning in the fourth quarter of the year 2000. The 
National Association of Manufacturers estimated that without an energy 
policy in America, fuel prices soared in 1999 and 2000, costing the 
economy more than $115 billion, dragging down manufacturers and sending 
us into a recession.
  But I am not here today, Mr. Speaker, to exploit national tragedy for 
political gain. So I do not stand in this Chamber even to say this is a 
Bill Clinton recession.
  So whose recession is it, Mr. Speaker? Is it George W. Bush's? Is it 
Bill Clinton's? Is it the terrorists' who attacked our country on 
September 11? The truth of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, it is none of 
the above. It is simply America's recession.
  The people of the United States of America learned a powerful lesson 
on September 11, and that is we are all in this together, that united 
we stand. The American people have rightly had much less patience for 
small-minded partisan bickering and finger pointing since September 11, 
and I suspect that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who 
would seize this moment for political advantage, to lay this multi-year 
recession driven even farther down by the terrorist attacks may well 
pay a penalty at the ballot box for their exploitation.
  Let us work together to pass an economic stimulus package in a 
bipartisan way. Let us get this economy moving together.

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