[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 448-449]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the state of the 
Nation's economy. Upon taking office, President Obama encountered one 
of the worst recessions in this country's history. He faced tremendous 
challenges under any standard. To be sure, it would have been difficult 
for any President to make the kinds of reforms that would have had an 
immediate effect on an economy this bad. But at the end of the day we 
see that although he was handed something that we can fairly 
characterize as an economic emergency, he, through his actions and 
through his policies, turned that emergency into a national tragedy.
  In his first 2 years, instead of focusing on creating jobs and 
creating a set of circumstances in which the private sector could bring 
jobs to fruition, President Obama and his substantial majorities in 
both Houses of Congress used their tremendous advantage to push for 
greater government control over America's health care choices, more 
burdensome and debilitating regulations on businesses, and a failed 
stimulus package that led to record-setting annual deficits.
  Just look at America before President Obama took office and compare 
it to our economic situation now. For example, unemployment is up 9 
percent from when President Obama took office. The price of gasoline is 
up 83 percent compared to when he took office. Long-term unemployment 
is up 107 percent. The median value of a single-family home in America 
is down 14 percent, and the U.S. national debt is up 43 percent. He has 
added over $4 trillion to our national debt.
  Then, last year, President Obama created a standoff with Republicans 
by refusing to accept a reasonable compromise on spending reforms as a 
condition for raising the Nation's debt ceiling. He presided over the 
downgrading of America's credit rating, the first in our country's 
history, and he has taken every opportunity to block the development of 
America's energy resources, a source of much-needed revenue and jobs.
  Perhaps most troubling, this President has intentionally divided the 
country by waging vicious class warfare campaigns separating average, 
hard-working Americans by income and then pitting them against one 
another. The President's record on this score has been repugnant and 
damaging.
  Instead of working with Congress to address our genuine economic 
challenges, the President has responded by starting his reelection 
campaign early. In a series of taxpayer-funded campaign stops, the 
President sharpened his divisive message and astoundingly blamed 
Republicans for legislative gridlock--never mind that the President's 
most recent budget proposal failed to attract even a single vote in the 
U.S. Senate, and it was, in fact, Senate Democrats who refused to bring 
the President's own jobs plan to the floor for a vote. Even today, 
members of the President's own party are lining up against him to 
oppose his tone-deaf decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline. This project 
would create 20,000 American jobs, it would inject much needed private 
sector capital into our economy, and it would increase the country's 
energy security, but the President has chosen to block the project as 
an election-year nod to his friends in the extreme leftwing of the 
environmentalist movement.
  President Obama has put the state of our Union in disarray. Certainly 
he inherited a poor economy, but the decisions he has made and 
implemented since taking office are making it worse. He was handed an 
economic emergency, and instead of taking the challenge head-on, he 
chose to ignore it, and then he turned it into a national tragedy.
  There is a void of leadership in the White House. He must end the 
divisiveness and start dealing directly and decisively with the needs 
of the country.

[[Page 449]]

The President has very little time left to show the American people 
that he can be the kind of leader who will put the country before his 
own personal political interests. For the sake of all Americans, I 
sincerely hope he uses that time wisely.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Senator Collins pertaining to the introduction of S. 
2044 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tester). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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