The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ECONOMIC GROWTH” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S5441-S5442 on July 30, 2018.
The Department includes the Census Bureau, which is used to determine many factors about American life. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department is involved in misguided foreign trade policies and is home to many unneeded programs.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ECONOMIC GROWTH
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on a final matter, on Friday, the Commerce Department reported some outstanding news. In the second quarter of 2018, the real gross domestic product of the United States grew by 4.1 percent. This number is just the latest point in a long series of evidence that shows the American economy is thriving.
As I have pointed out, it is a mistake to view this growth--and the new prosperity for American families that it entails--primarily as an achievement of government. It is the American worker, the American job creator, and the American entrepreneur who has grown our economy faster than 4 percent this quarter, who has driven the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits to its lowest level in over 48 years and created 3.7 million jobs since the 2016 election, and who has repatriated more than $300 billion from overseas in the first quarter of this year alone, according to the Commerce Department, bringing that money home to our country.
This is what free enterprise can achieve when Washington, DC, stops raising taxes, stops micromanaging the economy through the sprawling regulatory State, and stops presuming it is better to funnel money and power to bureaucrats than to trust hard-working families and small business owners to live their own lives. So it is the American people who deserve the credit for the successes of their economy.
Here is what this united Republican government is doing: cutting their taxes, rolling back the redtape, and mowing down one hurdle after another that has held our country back.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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