Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I compliment my good friend from South Dakota, the chairman of the Commerce Committee, for coming down and leading the discussion on a very important topic that, to be honest, we are not talking about nearly enough in the Senate--and certainly the Obama administration is not talking about nearly enough--and that is the importance of our economy.
I was on the floor a couple weeks ago and I made a prediction. I said there is going to be big economic news coming out, and my prediction was that nobody in the administration was going to talk about it and none of our friends in the media were going to talk about it. Unfortunately, my prediction came true.
The big news, as Chairman Thune said, is that last quarter we grew at 0.5 percent GDP growth. We essentially didn't grow. We didn't grow. The great American economy, the thing that has made us great as a country for 200-plus years, just stalled--and nobody talked. The Obama administration didn't talk about it. The media didn't talk about it.
When we talk about gross domestic product, this is essentially the health of the economy. It is the measure of opportunity in America. Unfortunately, what we saw last quarter was additional proof that the Obama administration on this critical issue--economic growth for our citizens--is one of the worst in U.S. history. It is not just me saying that. People should take a look at these numbers. These numbers are actually from the administration and other administrations. This looks at recent economic growth for the last 50 years, starting with President Kennedy's administration, but as my colleague from South Dakota said, the average growth for the United States in our 200-plus- year history has been about 3.7 percent GDP growth.
We look at this chart--and this is very bipartisan, of course--almost 4 percent GDP growth average for the country. This is what has made us great, strong. We look at this chart, and it shows the ups and downs. This red line is 3 percent GDP growth, which is considered pretty good. It is not great but pretty good. We certainly should be targeting that.
Look at the Obama administration right here in the corner. It has never even hit 3 percent GDP growth--not once, not even in one quarter--ever.
What we are seeing right here, in the almost 10 years of President Obama, relative to any other administration, Democratic or Republican-- Johnson, Nixon, even Carter, Reagan, Clinton, real strong growth there--clearly, the Obama administration has been, by any measure, a lost decade of economic growth. Unfortunately, you don't hear the administration talking about it at all. You can understand why. It is an abysmal record. But the truth is, if you look back in history and that news came out--whether it was a Democratic or Republican administration--the Secretary of the Treasury would have said: Don't worry America, we know you are hurting; we have a plan. The Secretary of Commerce would have said: We have ideas on growing the economy; we know that 0.5 percent GDP growth--essentially flat growth, no growth-- is not the historical tradition of America. Historically, Cabinet members in any administration would have told us: We know it is a problem, and here is how we are going to fix it.
When this news came out 2 weeks ago, we heard nothing from this administration--nothing. When they do talk about the economy, there are typically three types of responses: One is, as my colleague from South Dakota mentioned, there is this talk in Washington about the ``new normal.'' In my view, it is one of the most dangerous phrases being bantered about in DC. The new normal says that we know America has been growing at this robust rate, almost 4 percent GDP growth for most of our history, but there are new factors, and we should not expect that anymore. We shouldn't even expect 3 percent. Let's just dumb down our expectations.
They talk about the new normal. The new normal should be about 1.5, 2 percent GDP growth, maybe. The people in Washington are telling the rest of the country: You guys should be satisfied with that. We shouldn't be. That is a surrender of the American dream. So that is one response--the new normal.
The second thing the President has done for a while, but he can't do it anymore, unfortunately. He has looked around the world and said: Well, at least we are growing better than Europe or Japan or Brazil. Really, the only measure that actually matters is not another country; it is how do we stack up against America? He does not want to talk about that, so he talks about Europe. He can't talk about Europe anymore because we are growing at 0.5 percent GDP growth, and last quarter Europe grew at 2.2 percent. It is not great, but it is certainly better than ours. Obviously, they have to get rid of that talking point.
The third thing they do is come out and try to tell us: Hey, you know what, you are actually doing better. I know you are feeling horrible and your wages haven't gone up, but you are doing better, trust me.
In a New York Times article, the President recently lamented that, looking back, he didn't sell all the great stuff he was doing on the economy. He didn't sell it better. I don't think he needs to sell it. Most people feel it, and it is not great. He even said:
Anybody who says we are not absolutely better off today than we were just seven years ago, they're not leveling with you. They're not telling the truth. By almost every economic measure, we are significantly better off.
I think it is astounding that the President of the United States is saying that kind of stuff to the American people because it is simply not true.
Let me provide some facts. The story they tell is of a country that by almost every economic measure is actually worse off than we were when the Obama administration started. In the past 8 years, the labor force participation rate has slid to its lowest measure since the mid- 1970s. Essentially, that is people who have quit looking for a job because they can't find one.
According to the most recent census data, the percentage of Americans below the poverty line in the last 8 years has grown. It is up almost 4 percent. Real median household incomes in the last 8 years have declined from $54,900 to $53,600. Since the President took office, food stamp participation has actually soared. It is up by almost 40 percent. The percentage of Americans who own homes--a marker of the promise of the American dream--is down 5 percent. This is all in the 8 years, 7\1/ 2\ years, since President Obama has been in office.
The late Vice President Hubert Humphrey once said:
Propaganda, to be effective, must be believed. To be believed, it must be credible. To be credible, it must be true.
No matter how much this administration uses soaring speeches or articles from media sources that have been favorably disposed toward them or clever tweets insisting that the economy is doing well, it simply is not. These are the facts, and Americans know it. Americans know it.
We are spending more on housing and food. Wages are stagnant. As I have mentioned, many have given up looking for good jobs. Some are questioning the ability to put their kids through college.
What is interesting is that Washington, DC, is doing fine. When you grow the government the way we have in the last 8 years, this part of the country actually never had a recession. It is not one of the richest places in America, right here in Washington, and that is why so many in the DC press corps weren't writing about this. The President says the economy is doing well, so it must be doing well.
I think the good news is that even now the media is starting to pick up on this because the problem is so pervasive. In this election season, this is what we are hearing Americans talk about.
Here is a heading from a recent Atlantic article: ``The lonely poverty of America's white working class.'' Here is another one from the same publication: ``The Resurrection of America's Slums.'' Here is one from another publication: ``Poverty in America: the Deepening Crisis.''
Recently, there have been numerous articles about how poverty leads to addictions and to higher mortality rates. The New Yorker had an article entitled ``Life-Expectancy Inequality Grows in America.''
The Washington Post is now starting to do some heartbreaking stories about poverty, death, and economic despair in our great country. Talking about the recent West Virginia primary election, the Washington Post stated: ``But many poorer, less-educated folks who have been left behind in the 21st century--the ones who have seen their wages stagnate, their opportunities for upward mobility disappear and their life expectancies shorten--are looking to disrupt a status quo that has not worked for them.''
What does this mean for our great country, our citizens? One indication is, in poll after poll, Americans are telling us they are running out of hope. Sixty-five percent of Americans now believe the country is on the wrong track. That is not surprising. We never hit 3 percent GDP growth in the last decade.
The vast majority of Americans don't believe their kids are going to be better off than they are. They are telling us that the quality that has made America great, the quality that is in the DNA of the United States, and that is progress, is losing out to this idea of the new normal. It is a new normal where our children are not going to be better off than we are, where we can't grow the economy. The American dream is all about progress. We need to remember that. We can't settle for another lost decade of economic growth. We can't settle for stagnation.
A number of my colleagues, particularly on the other side of the aisle, come to the Senate floor--and I have respect for everybody in this great body--and they talk about the moral imperatives they believe are important, moral imperative on this topic, moral imperative on another topic, but they rarely talk about the moral imperative of growth and opportunity. To me, that is the biggest moral imperative we have, with the exception of national defense in this body.
It is a moral imperative to recognize that we have experienced a lost decade of economic growth. We have a moral imperative to talk about the pervasive poverty, what that does to our citizens, how it creates holes in the social fabric that holds us together, and how, when our own citizens fall through those holes, a piece of all of us goes with them because although we are individuals, we are all Americans together.
We have a moral imperative to tell our fellow citizens that working together we don't have to accept this, the new normal. We have the moral imperative to lift up American workers with policies that actually help them.
Like most Americans, I was shocked when Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that under her administration she would put coal miners out of work. Here is the quote: ``We are going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.'' That is shocking. Think about that. I come from a State where there is a lot of mining. These are great jobs. These are important jobs. These are important for the national economy of America. To have a candidate say that she intends to put coal miners out of work is part of the problem.
As Senator Thune mentioned, the other part of the problem is that Washington is no longer a partner in opportunity for coal miners, for workers, for growing the economy, but it has become an obstacle.
We have to do a lot to get this economy moving. My colleague from South Dakota mentioned a number of ideas. We are going to be on the floor talking about them--the moral imperative to provide economic opportunity and hope for Americans.
One thing for certain we have to do is get control of the Federal Government that wants to regulate every single aspect of our lives and economy. This is a chart that shows how Federal rules from this town go straight up. Every year there are more. As a matter of fact, the Obama administration is going to be the first in U.S. history to have proposed in a single year 80,000 pages of new Federal regs. If you think that is going to help the coal miners or other Americans or working-class families with hope and opportunity, that is not the right solution. What we need is less government and more economic freedom and the truth about what is going on with this great economy of ours in our great country. That is what we are going to continue to do.
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