[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 27768]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AMERICA'S ECONOMY IS IN TROUBLE

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, the President would have us believe that 
all is well with our economy. But the American people know better. 
Despite finally receiving some good economic news, middle-class 
families in this country continue to fall behind as incomes remain flat 
or drop.
  Gas prices fluctuate, health care costs soar, and home heating costs 
skyrocket. Americans this week are paying nearly 70 cents more per 
gallon on gas now than in the first year that President Bush came to 
office.
  According to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, 
the average family using heating oil or natural gas will pay nearly 
three times the amount families paid the first winter President Bush 
was in office.
  For the past 5 years, health care costs have increased by nearly 60 
percent, driving up the number of uninsured by 6 million since the 
beginning of the Bush administration. Under President Bush, college 
tuition has gone up about 40 percent, even taking inflation into 
account.
  Meanwhile, real household income fell for the fourth year in a row in 
2004. Together, America can do better than an economy in which middle-
class families are seeing falling incomes in the face of rising prices. 
The American people know it and so should the President.

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