[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18972-18974]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ECONOMIC GOOD NEWS

  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, today I rise to note some good news about 
the state of our American economy. Hard work clearly remains. We are 
still recovering from the deepest slump since the Great Depression. But 
I think it is time to appreciate our recent progress.
  Over the past few days and weeks, there has been plenty of positive 
economic news. Listen to some of these headlines. From the New York 
Times: ``Jobless Rate Dips to Lowest Level in More Than 2 years.'' From 
CNN: ``Dow closes with largest gain since March 2009.'' From Reuters: 
``Private-sector jobs soar, payroll forecasts rise.'' From the Wall 
Street Journal: ``Online Sales Reach Record $1.25 Billion on Cyber 
Monday.''
  I know it is far too early to start to celebrate, but I want to tell 
you a little bit about some of the details of this news. I know back in 
my State of Alaska, just like everywhere else in this country, people 
are still struggling to balance their checkbooks; that they face tough 
decisions about the cost of groceries, basic health care, college 
tuition for their kids, and just the basic expenses to live. Yet the 
recent news about our economy is very encouraging.
  I want to give those specific examples. On unemployment and jobs, the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics says total payrolls increased by 120,000 
jobs in November as the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent--as 
the headline said, the lowest level in more than 2 years. Also, the 
latest news also marked 21 consecutive months of private sector job 
growth.
  I know some will come down and claim, well, that is not good enough. 
Well, I remember when I first came here, prior to me serving in the 
Senate, we were averaging about 500,000 jobs being lost every month.
  Let me repeat this one statistic: There have been 21 consecutive 
months of private sector job growth--not led by government job growth 
but private sector job growth. So it is not robust, but it is growing. 
Again, that is positive news.
  Manufacturing activity climbed in November, according to the 
Institute for Supply Management. Its indicators tell us manufacturing 
is continuing to expand--another strong signal of overall economic 
growth.
  The American automotive industry is coming back strong. Think about 
it again. In 2009, it was literally flat on its back trying to recover. 
In November of this year, light vehicle sales were up 11.4 percent 
compared to a year ago. That is the highest sales rate since the 2009 
Cash for Clunkers Program, which many here supported.
  There is more good news about the automobile industry. Ford says its 
November sales rose 13 percent. Chrysler Group reported a breathtaking 
November sales jump of 44.5 percent from a year ago. General Motors 
reported it sold 7 percent more new cars and trucks in November than it 
did a year earlier.

[[Page 18973]]

  On investments and the markets, again, we have an important signal. 
It is not something you should always judge the economy on, but it is 
an important piece of it, and so much of middle class-America is tied 
to the market--maybe your 529 account or your 401(k) retirement program 
or the personal management of your account or, if you are self-
employed, your SEP account. We are all tied to it to some degree.
  The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 12,000 last Friday and 
gained 7 percent--just in 1 week. Let me take a moment to describe 
where we have come from in the market. Last week's closing numbers 
represent a gain of about 33 percent since early January of 2009--when 
several other Members and I were sworn in to the Senate. In January of 
2009, the market still kept going down. In March of 2009, it dropped to 
its lowest level, a little over 6,600. Last week's numbers represent a 
whopping 81 percent increase since 2009. If you take the next step and 
look at the S&P index, it reflects a very similar gain--up 36 percent 
since 2009 and, since the dark days of March when it really crashed 
out, an 82-percent increase. It is important because so much of our 
retirement is tied to it.
  If you read or hear the pundits and politicos here, it is always doom 
and gloom. I wanted to come to the floor and talk about some of these 
issues because we are moving in the right direction. We are moving in a 
positive way, but we don't hear this in the news because good news is 
not necessarily reported. It may show up one day and then disappear. 
When a bad thing happens, we hear about that for a week and a half and 
we are here talking about why it is so bad. But the overall numbers 
tell us the fundamentals are changing in a positive way.
  The other piece, which is consumer confidence, is important because 
if people and businesses are not confident about the future, they will 
not invest, spend, or participate in the economy. But it is better.
  Last month, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 
56.0 percent, its highest level since July. Americans spent $52.4 
billion over the four-day Thanksgiving Day weekend, according to the 
National Retail Federation. That is the highest total ever recorded 
during the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. When I was 
back home for Thanksgiving, I heard this good news from many shop 
owners. The new Apple store in Anchorage saw record sales, with 
thousands of shoppers coming through the door, and it was a cold 
weekend. Sales on Cyber Monday--the first online shopping day after 
Thanksgiving weekend--rose 22 percent from a year ago. Americans spent 
another record--$1.25 billion--on that Monday, setting again record 
sales for Cyber Monday.
  On trade, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed from $44.9 billion in 
August to $43.1 billion in September. That is the smallest trade gap 
since last December and the biggest 1-month improvement since July, 
according to the Commerce Department.
  Housing is a critical piece of our overall economy, and some say we 
are in the recession because the housing market collapsed, but there 
are also many other pieces to the equation. We never hear good news, we 
hear negative news. There is a lot of work to get new home starts and 
current inventory off the market, help people who are underwater, and 
make sure they can stay in their homes and receive the benefit.
  The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on 
contract signings--people who are looking at a home to purchase and 
maybe have entered into a contract and said: I will be purchasing this 
home in 30, 60, or 90 days from now--was up 10.4 percent in October 
from the month before. The National Association of Realtors says home 
sales are up more than 9 percent from the same time last year. Again, 
is it as robust as we want? No. Is it better than where it was? 
Absolutely.
  Many of the policies that my colleagues and I have fought for on the 
floor--a lot of times, we make decisions and we move on. We go to the 
next issue, and we don't have time to reflect on the results of the 
work we are doing. In the last 2\1/2\ years, since the great recession 
came into play, there have been a lot of good things happening.
  As for residential construction--this is, again, people building 
homes, providing construction jobs, providing a new tax base for 
communities around the country that need it so they can hire police, 
firefighters, and teachers--the Census Bureau says it was at a 
seasonally adjusted annual rate of $239 billion in October, up roughly 
3.5 percent from the previous month.
  For Alaska--again, while spending time back home, I tried to spend 
time with the small business community, asking them: What is happening? 
What do you sense? And what is your confidence level? I had a meeting 
with a group of small business owners, and one got a loan from the SBA 
recently. He took advantage of the low cost we were able to implement 
through legislation we pass here. It helped him get into a new 
restaurant. Now he employs 120 people in my community in Alaska--
Anchorage. Another owner of a video production company had one of the 
best years ever, and he is doing work for corporate clients who are 
willing to spend money.
  These are all very positive developments. Now, as we approach the end 
of the year, we in this Chamber need to do our part to keep the 
momentum moving forward. People watch us, and we squabble over many 
issues. As I mentioned, all this good news is because of the work a 
slim majority did over the last 3 years in this body because we believe 
in the future, in what the potential is of this great country in which 
we live. Maybe some had different views on what could happen. We 
believed in what is possible. These statistics show us that belief is 
now paying off.
  As I look at where we are today, we need to continue to make these 
smart public policy decisions that create a sound economy. We need to 
do it as best we can in a bipartisan way. What I am talking about now 
is extending the tax cut for middle-class American families, continuing 
the tax relief, giving a reduction in our payroll taxes, which is due 
to expire at the end of the year.
  Before any of us leave Washington later this month for the holidays, 
we clearly have to resolve this issue. In my opinion, we have no 
choice, and here is why: Unless Congress takes action, the average 
middle-class family will be hit by a $1,000 tax increase starting 
January 1.
  Economists of all political stripes have called this tax cut critical 
for America's continued economic growth. They say that letting it lapse 
could push us back into a deep recession. Truly, that would be 
unforgivable based on where we are today and how far we have come in a 
short time--almost 3 years now.
  Some on the other side of the political aisle seem unsure about 
renewing the tax relief--the tax cut aimed at middle-class families and 
small businesses--this after fighting for massive tax cuts for the 
wealthy in our deficit reduction talks. If they block this tax cut, 
about 160 million families will get the news during the holidays that 
their taxes are going up on January 1. That is simply not fair. It 
makes no sense just when the economic indicators, as I mentioned, are 
looking so positive.
  As I said, if we don't act, a typical family making $50,000 a year 
would see their taxes increase about $1,000. But if we pass the middle-
class tax cut in 2011, for the 2012 tax year, that same family will get 
a total tax cut of $1,500. Not only would they see the thousand, but 
they would get something additional because of the way we drafted this.
  Most of that money will go directly into the economy. In Alaska, 
roughly 400,000 people benefited from the tax cut this year, and they 
used it to pump about $300 million into the State and local economies--
again, the small businesses that I traveled to, a couple of them with 
my son and his cousin, House of Hobbies and the Bosco store. While they 
were playing all the games for free, playing the race cars and all that 
stuff and looking at baseball cards, I was asking the clerk: What does 
it feel like? There is no question

[[Page 18974]]

that they said there is a change in the economy in the positive. That 
is because in Alaska, for example, these 400,000 people had $300 
million in their pockets--not the IRS putting it into the Treasury, but 
they had it and they spent it. And I will be frank about it--after my 
son and my nephew, his cousin, spent that time on the free road there 
playing with toys, I spent some money to help my small businesses and 
the economy. That is what it is about.
  This tax cut put $110 billion into the American economy this year. 
Let me say that again--$110 billion. It is money that could go to the 
IRS or to middle-class Americans. I think the choice is very clear as 
to who should benefit from those dollars.
  We were elected--as I was from Alaska--to represent all Americans, 
not just those at the top end but the people who work every day, those 
whom we see on a regular basis when we go back home or walk out of this 
building or actually in this building, the people spending time every 
day working hard to move this economy forward. It is our obligation to 
continue to do what we can to make their lives a little bit better by 
lessening their burden of taxes and giving them the tax relief that 
they deserve and that we should be able to give to them as January 1 
rolls around.
  I hope that, as we move toward the holiday season, we can continue to 
give the gift of tax relief to the middle-class Americans--to my 
400,000 folks back in Alaska and all of the small businesses in Alaska 
that have benefited. Let's do what is right and do it in a bipartisan 
way and move forward in giving continued tax relief to middle-class 
Americans.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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