[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12412]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ECONOMIC STRENGTH

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I intended to come to the floor to speak 
about Iraq. I will do that. But I must make a comment or two about the 
speeches that have preceded mine with respect to the economy and what 
is happening.
  I remember 4 years ago when the Presidential election was in full 
heat. One candidate said the prosperity that we have been experiencing 
is starting to slow down, and the economy is showing signs of being at 
the end of the business cycle and heading toward a recession. His 
political opponent said he was trying to talk down the economy for 
political purposes.
  Well, it turns out he was right. We started a slowdown in the economy 
in the last two quarters of 2000. We ended up with a recession in the 
first three quarters of 2001. He was not trying to talk down the 
economy just for political purposes. He was telling the truth. This 
was, of course, Governor George W. Bush of Texas.
  The fact is, the economy is doing extremely well, and there are those 
who are trying to talk it down for political purposes. This is the 
fact, no matter who is elected President. Whether it is George W. Bush, 
John Kerry, Ralph Nader, or the Libertarian, or whoever else may be out 
there seeking the Presidency, he or she will inherit an extremely 
strong economy come January of 2005. And whoever it is, if it is not 
George W. Bush, will take credit for that strength and say: See, 
because I got elected everything is now wonderful.
  In fact, the business cycle does not operate that way. The business 
cycle does not pay attention to election days; it pays attention to 
long-term policies put in place. We had the recession in the beginning 
of 2001 because of economic pressures that built up in the nineties. We 
have the recovery now taking hold in 2004 that will come into play 
through the balance of this year and strongly into next year because of 
policies that were put in place over the last several years. You cannot 
turn the economy around by a single election. You have to put policies 
in place and see them go forward.
  It is very interesting to see those particular items President Bush's 
opponents are now focusing on to say this is terrible, this is 
terrible, this is terrible. They have changed now because the items 
they used to be focused on as the bellwethers of economic activity have 
turned positive. They cannot use the old measuring sticks they said 
were so important to make the case that the President's economic plan 
is a failure because those measuring sticks have all turned positive 
and now indicate the President's policies were the right ones, so they 
pick up new measuring sticks and find an opportunity to blame President 
Bush.
  I am fascinated to know that the increase in property values in New 
Jersey in the last few years is President Bush's fault; that when the 
New Jersey officials increase property taxes to go along with that 
increase in property values, it is President Bush's fault, and so on 
and so on. We will hear more of that in the months to come. Let us 
remember that the economy responds to a whole series of pressures. No 
President can wave a magic wand and create jobs, as one candidate is 
promising to do. Let us realize on that measure, which the President's 
opponents no longer use, jobs are being created now at a faster rate 
than the President's opponent is promising he would do if he became 
President. If you like the rate that the Democratic presumptive nominee 
is proposing for job creation, you have to like the record of George W. 
Bush because jobs are being created at a faster rate right now than 
that proposed rate.
  Well, Mr. President, I rose to discuss Iraq, and I will do that in 
the time I have remaining. How much time do I have?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has 10 minutes 
remaining.

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