[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25263-25264]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   A JOBLESS RECOVERY IS NO RECOVERY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of unemployed 
Americans.
  The administration and our Republican leadership tell us that the 
economy is rebounding and that we are in an economic recovery, but to 
the hardworking Americans who are still looking for those jobs, the 
statistics do not amount to a hill of beans because they still cannot 
find work. To them, a jobless recovery is no recovery at all.
  America's unemployed have this administration to thank for an 
economic recovery that has produced few jobs and has little impact on 
their lives. Sure, the administration will tell us that job creation is 
its number one priority. In fact, over the past year, the President has 
gone on a nationwide public relations tour touting his tax cut in front 
of backdrops that proclaimed ``Strengthening America's Economy'' and 
shout ``Jobs, Growth and Opportunity.''
  The truth of the matter is, however, that any growth produced by the 
administration's economic policies has come at the expense of jobs or 
Congress' opportunity to create them.
  Let us take the administration's catch-all solution for any of our 
economic woes, tax cuts. The administration said that our economic 
recovery would be fueled by consumers who spent the extra money. 
Unfortunately, an income tax cut does not help unemployed workers 
without an income. They do not feel the economic recovery.
  To this argument, the administration is sure to say, wait a minute, 
we also gave businesses tax cuts to expand and create jobs. Well, our 
businesses did not take their advice. Instead, they invested in 
technology and innovation, and in doing so, they increased productivity 
and can now produce more products without producing more jobs.
  In fact, a recent Department of Labor study determined that our high 
unemployment levels are due not just to layoffs, but primarily to the 
lack of newhires in expanding businesses. So tax cuts for businesses 
have provided little relief for unemployed workers.
  Our trade policies have also been truly devastating for the American 
worker. By implementing fast-track trade negotiating authority and 
permanent normal trade relations for China, we have seen American jobs 
go out on a fast track out of this country. I would remind my 
colleagues that 3 years ago, we were promised that trade with China 
would lead to an increase in American jobs and exports. Well, 
certainly, we were not told that, 3 years later, our main export to 
China would actually be American jobs, about 1 million of them to be 
specific.
  Frankly, we have given American businesses little incentive to keep 
their jobs in this country. In ratifying a flurry of free trade 
agreements, we have made it increasingly difficult for American 
products to compete with their inexpensive foreign competitors. We have 
left many American businesses with few choices other than to move 
production, and jobs, offshore.
  Additionally, too many of our service sector businesses are 
outsourcing their jobs to cheaper foreign labor. Today, we already have 
400,000 jobs outsourced to a country like India. That number is bad 
enough, but even worse is a recent study indicating that over 3 million 
of these jobs will likely be outsourced over the next 10 years.
  This country has already felt the tremendous pain of losing almost 3 
million jobs. We need to take action now to encourage private sector 
business to keep these much-needed jobs at home.
  Mr. Speaker, the unemployment rate in this country stands at 6.1 
percent. The sad news, however, is that that

[[Page 25264]]

number does not even take into account the thousands of Americans who 
have looked for work but have now given up. Labor force participation, 
the percentage of Americans who are either working or looking for work, 
is only 66 percent. It is at the lowest level since 1991.
  We need true job creation in this country, not the administration's 
idea of job creation through permanent tax cuts, tort reform and more 
free trade legislation. That kind of trickle-down job creation will not 
work any better than their trickle-down economics.
  Instead of their faulty economic policies, we need to stimulate the 
economy directly by aiding our cash-strapped States so that our law 
enforcement and teachers can keep their jobs. We should create jobs 
through public works programs that will employ our skilled workers 
while repairing America's crumbling roads and bridges. This is the kind 
of economic stimulus needed in our country. This is the kind of 
economic stimulus that creates jobs on the ground.
  The administration tells us to be patient, the economy is growing and 
the jobs will come. Unfortunately, however, recovery based on increased 
productivity only lessens the chance for job creation because to create 
jobs the economy must grow faster than productivity, and it does not 
seem likely that our sputtering economy will be meeting these 
expectations in the near future.
  So, here we are, with record-level trade deficits brought on by 
record-level tax cuts that will not do a thing for most of the American 
people hurting the most. And it is a shame, particularly because we had 
a choice. The administration could have pursued economic policies in 
the best interests of both our country and America's unemployed 
workers. Instead, they pursued economic policies in the best interest 
of their campaign and reelection efforts, and the unfortunate result is 
a jobless recovery, or if we ask our unemployed workers, no recovery at 
all.

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