[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24379-24380]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           GOOD ECONOMIC NEWS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, there has been a whirlwind of news 
lately, from Supreme Court nominees to hurricanes and natural disasters 
and the cost of gasoline. If you were to listen to many folks in this 
Chamber, you would think that there was absolutely no good news at all, 
anywhere. I, like most Members of Congress, go home virtually every 
weekend. When I am home, I try to take every opportunity to listen to 
people, what are their concerns and what are their interests. They have 
been worried about a general sense that we here in Washington have 
gotten distracted from the real issues. I gain strength from those 
discussions and from those folks at home.
  The wonderful news about America is that hardworking men and women 
across this country are doing just that--they are working hard. To all 
of them, we owe an incredible debt of gratitude, because they really 
are the real heroes. Day in and day out, they are the real heroes.
  With the challenges that this Nation has faced over the past couple 
of months, including the record destruction from the hurricanes across 
the gulf coast and in Florida and the remarkable increases in gas and 
oil prices, the economy ought to be in the tank, or at least flat, 
right? It ought not be growing at all.
  Hold on, Mr. Speaker. This news, you have not heard in the major 
media, you have not heard it read in the newspapers, and that is the 
good news of the wonderful success of our economy, the amazing American 
economy. This chart shows the gross domestic product, which really is 
kind of the benchmark of how our economy is performing. This chart 
demonstrates that in the last quarter, in the third quarter of 2005, 
the economy grew at a rate of 3.8 percent. That is an increase. This is 
in spite of Katrina and Rita and all the damage that they brought to 
our shores. Economists have estimated that if those events had not 
occurred, this economy would have grown at about 5 percent in the last 
quarter. The good news is that this economy continues to grow.
  The question that most thinking people would ask, how can this be 
when most of the media, financial and otherwise, keep saying how awful 
this economy is, how it has no staying power, how it has no energy at 
all? I am reminded of the old adage that says that even a broken clock 
is right twice a day. If people keep predicting that there will be a 
recession, sooner or later they are going to be right.
  This chart demonstrates that the past 10 quarters have been 
phenomenal. That is 2\1/2\ years. Growth during that time has been 
greater than 3 percent for every single quarter and in some of those 
quarters it has been greater than 4 percent. Again thinking people 
would ask, What happened 10 quarters ago to bring this about? What 
began this growth cycle? Curiously, that is about the time when the tax 
cuts on dividends and the tax cuts on capital gains and the tax cuts on 
income taxes were clear that they were going to take effect retroactive 
to January 1, 2003. That is all good news.
  What is more, real business investment has grown at an average annual 
rate of 9 percent over that period of

[[Page 24380]]

time, nearly twice the rate of the overall economy. This investment in 
business is exactly what the tax cuts were meant to address. The 
evidence is very, very clear. The tax cuts have had the effect that 
they were desired to have.
  How about the deficit, you ask? Well, that has improved as well, 
decreasing by nearly $100 billion over the past fiscal year alone. That 
is good news, Mr. Speaker. How could that be, lowering tax rates, 
increasing tax revenue and decreasing the deficit? That is exactly what 
lowering taxes does.
  I have heard my colleagues on the other side say, well, nobody else 
is being lifted up. In fact, the unemployment rate reached 4.9 percent 
in August 2005. Most economists will tell you that an unemployment rate 
of 5 percent is full employment, because people are changing jobs and 
moving. That is good news surrounding our Nation as it relates to the 
economy.
  Soon Congress must decide whether to make these tax cuts permanent or 
they will expire. I think the evidence is extremely clear. If we wish 
this good news on the economy to continue, the tried and true policy of 
decreasing taxes will result in an increase in economic growth, more 
money in people's pockets and more financial success for more 
Americans. Just look at the evidence. This is the evidence that 
decreasing taxes works for all Americans, 10 straight quarters of 
economic growth.
  I urge my colleagues to embrace this good news and act expeditiously 
to make certain that the tax cuts be permanent.

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