[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 15813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    STAGNATING MIDDLE-CLASS INCOMES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, while the Republican Members of Congress 
have been blocking the first minimum-wage increase in 9 years, there is 
new evidence that income stagnation is not just hurting lower middle-
class families but middle-class families across the board.
  Just the other day, the Los Angeles Times reported that income 
stagnation is now hitting people with a 4-year college education. In 
fact, the White House's own economists report that earnings and income 
for employees with 4-year college degrees fell by 5.2 percent between 
2000 and 2004, during the President's first term. That is when adjusted 
for inflation. So, basically, if you have a college degree education, 
you had a decline in income.
  Now, for 30 years, 40 years we have told people that you earn what 
you learn. A college degree today is no longer as valuable a ticket to 
success as it was before. You have to literally go back 30 years, to 
the 1970s stagflation, when people with a college education saw their 
income decline.
  Now, what is happening in addition to income decline in America? This 
isn't just for working stiffs. This is for people with a 4-year college 
education and also for people with a master's education.
  Energy prices? Well, they are up, more than doubled. In fact, when 
the President took office, gas was $1.33 a gallon. Today, it has gone 
up to close to $3 a gallon.
  Health care costs. Health care costs for a family of four has risen 
78 percent, to $11,000 a year for a family of four.
  College costs for their kids, up 38 percent for a 4-year college 
education.
  Savings, for the first time since World War II, are in negative 
territory, which is why people say bankruptcy and debt is one of their 
biggest economic concerns besides filling up their car with gas.
  So take that whole picture: incomes declining, energy prices up, 
close to doubling; health care costs $11,000 a year for a family of 
four, and continuing at 25 percent increases; college costs up 38 
percent; savings in negative territory. We have a Swiss cheese economy, 
and it is hurting and killing the middle class, who have done 
everything right. They got told to get a college education and you earn 
what you learn. Today that college education ain't enough. They went 
out and earned a master's degree in education. That ain't enough.
  And on top of that, besides incomes going down, all the costs to 
maintain a middle-class life, health care, energy costs, education, and 
retirement security, are all under attack. And what do my colleagues do 
when it comes to retirement security, when corporation after 
corporation is eliminating pensions? They want Social Security to lead 
the way.
  The plan for retirement security isn't, when companies are 
eliminating pensions, to have Social Security eliminated or privatized. 
It is to give them that security that people know, that people like, 
and that is the security that comes with Social Security.
  On energy. What is their answer to rising costs? As my colleague from 
Oregon said before, they handed over $14.5 billion in taxpayer 
subsidies to big oil companies so they could make additional profit. My 
view is if gas is 75 bucks a barrel, or 74 bucks a barrel, let the free 
market work. Use your profits to drill. Don't take taxpayers to 
subsidize it. People out there are paying twice, once at the pump at 3 
bucks a gallon and once on April 15 when we hand over $15 billion a 
year.
  And for health care costs? They handed off to the pharmaceutical 
companies an additional $130 billion in profits.
  Middle-class families are struggling with ever-increasing taxes, 
ever-increasing costs and stagnant incomes. It is time to have an 
economic strategy that, again, lifts all boats.
  Now, I don't want to take a stroll down memory lane; but in the 
1990s, when we were running balanced budgets and we were running a 
surplus, incomes for all people, not just the top end, but for all 
workers were up. College costs were contained, health care inflation 
was running alongside regular inflation, and energy prices were 
actually $1.33 a gallon, not 3 bucks a gallon.
  That was a time in which we actually made an improvement. We invested 
by giving all kids health care whose parents didn't have health care. 
We created 22 million jobs. We ended welfare as we know it. We put 
people to work rather than dependency. We had record homeownership, low 
inflation, a balanced budget, record surpluses, and began to pay down 
the debt.
  Put your fiscal house in order. Invest in education, health care, and 
energy independence in America. It is time for a change. It is time for 
new priorities.

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