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“THE PRESIDENT'S ECONOMIC POLICIES ARE WORKING” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1601-E1602 on Sept. 12, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE PRESIDENT'S ECONOMIC POLICIES ARE WORKING
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HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, September 12, 1996
Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, this past Saturday, former Senator Dole, now the Republican candidate for President, said in his radio address:
The Congressional Joint Economic Committee reports that last year 66 countries had economic growth rates that surpassed ours. The president may think that when it comes to economic growth, 67th place is good enough, but I do not. I want America to lead the world again in terms of economic growth, rising incomes, and greater job opportunities.
As a member of the Joint Economic Committee, I want Mr. Dole to know what my side of the committee thinks. In building his bridge to America's past, Mr. Dole must have overlooked the present. Just look at the good news about the economy that came out in the 2 weeks before he spoke. One week before his speech, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis revised the second quarter growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product upward to 4.8 percent. Exports and business investment showed strong upward movement.
Tuesday, before he spoke, the Conference Board reported the index of leading economic indicators, which projects the economy's health for the next 6 to 9 months, reached a record high.
And last Friday, before the Joint Economic Committee, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 250,000 jobs were created last month. This builds, on the nearly 200,000 jobs we created in July, and on the 10.5 million in the President's first 3\1/2\ years in office.
A report in the June issue of the Monthly Labor Review, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes, showed that between 1993 and 1995, jobs in relatively higher-earning occupations and industries grew at almost twice the rate as jobs in comparatively lower-earning occupations and industries.
In August, the share of women with jobs reached a record high of 57.2 percent--the highest employment record for women in our Nation's history. In part, this is a result of changes in the Earned Income Tax Credit that lowered the taxes for most single mothers, and therefore made work more desirable. A Democratic-controlled Congress passed that tax cut without a single Republican vote. And part of the good labor market outcome for women is a result of the Family and Medical Leave Act signed by President Clinton after President Bush stalled its passage. That act made sure a woman would not have to choose between having a job and taking care of a sick child.
Mr. Dole promises fiscal responsibility. However, look at the record we Democrats have delivered. Before leaving office in 1993, President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers left an economic report for the President. In it, they forecasted how well the economy would perform, and what size the size of the Federal budget deficit would be following President Bush's economic program.
Their most optimistic forecast was for the deficit to be $201 billion in 1996. Under President Clinton's leadership, the Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit to be $116 billion in 1996. That's $85 billion less than the rosiest projection President Bush promised. And remember there was not one single Republican vote for the President Clinton deficit reduction plan.
After 3\1/2\ years under President Clinton, we have the lowest combined rates of unemployment, inflation, and mortgage rates since the 1960's--which is the biggest tax cut of all for working Americans and retirees on fixed incomes.
And the listen to the words of Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Testifying before the Joint Economic Committee in January 1994, Dr. Greenspan clearly stated what he felt was the cause of the speedup in economic growth:
The actions last year to reduce the federal budget deficit have been instrumental in creating the basis for declining inflation expectations and easing pressures on long-term interest rates. . . . What I argued at the time is that the purpose of getting a lower budget deficit was essentially to improve the long-term outlook, and that if the deficit reduction is credible, then the long-term outlook gets discounted up-front. Indeed, that is precisely what is happening . . . . I think a substantial part of the improvement in economic activity and the low rates of inflation can be directly related to a changing financial expectation that we might finally be coming to grips with this very severe problem.
That was in 1994. He is not crediting shutting down the Government, and holding needed Government services hostage to unfair budget deals, for making financial markets believe that new and better fiscal management was finally in place. Dr. Greenspan was crediting the President's 1993 budget plan with the substantial part of the improvement in economic activity and the low rates of inflation.
While the rest of America that is experiencing steady job growth, increased consumer confidence, and a Federal deficit that has been cut in half, Mr. Dole is contending that he has policies that would have made the economy perform even better. What are these new ideas? In fact, they are not new at all: they are the same policies that ballooned our deficits in the first place. Except for the interest on the debt created during the Reagan and Bush years, our current budget would be running a surplus. So as for retreading these failed policies of the 1980's, in the language of the new generation: ``Been there, done that, don't want to go there again.''
Still, Mr. Dole promises growth that could generate more jobs. Again, look at the record. President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers predicted that, following President Bush's economic policies, the unemployment rate would be 6.2 percent in 1994 and 5.7 percent in 1995. President Clinton's policies delivered actual unemployment rates of 6.1 percent in 1994 and 5.6 percent in 1995. And while the Bush administration was going to be satisfied with an average unemployment rate of 5.4 percent in 1996, we have already lowered unemployment this year to 5.1 percent.
Americans want to see wages and take-home pay rise. Since January 1993, we at least have seen the 12-year decline in real wages come to a halt. We Democrats fought to lower the tax burden of low-income, working families by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, and raising the wages of low-income workers from the 40-year low in terms of purchasing power that they were experiencing through passage of a minimum wage hike. It was only fair. It was a hard fight. But we Democrats never gave up, and the Republicans finally caved in.
I am proud of the economic record we Democrats have accomplished in the last 4 years. We still have a great deal more to do, but Americans now know we are on the right track. As President Clinton says, we must build a bridge to the future. It is not a toll bridge because it will be a bridge paid for by careful planning. We don't need a bridge to the past, built with IOU's and growing deficits that mortgage our future. We don't need to go back to slow job growth, and fewer opportunities. We need to look forward.
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