Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Page S2504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Economic Growth
Madam President, finally, on the economy, that is one area that
deserves our attention, although you wouldn't guess it if you were
listening to President Trump. President Trump repeatedly brags about
low unemployment numbers and a rising stock market--two trends that
actually began long before he took office. President Trump should say
``Thanks, Obama'' for handing him an economy that was well into
recovery from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
But what the President has done since taking office has been to tilt
the playing field to allow most of the benefits of this recovery to
flow to those at the very top. He can brag about GDP numbers, but when
most of the wealth is going more and more to the highest level of
people, it doesn't benefit enough people.
President Trump has consistently weakened programs that help middle-
class Americans afford healthcare. He has rolled back critical worker
and consumer protections and rammed through a tax bill that gave
egregious giveaways to big corporations. Instead of the wealth
trickling down, corporations have spent the lion's share of their new
profits on corporate stock buybacks, which benefit shareholders and the
CEOs--most of them very wealthy--not average Americans or workers.
If the economy is so strong, why is it that 4 out of 10 Americans
can't afford a $400 emergency expense? Why is it that income disparity
grows, with the middle class left holding the bag? Recent polls
confirm--and this should be a watch word, Mr. President--Americans
don't believe the Trump economy is working for them. In a recent ABC
poll, most Americans see the Trump economy as primarily benefiting
those who are already in power, those who are already wealthy.
According to Monmouth, most Americans say the economy hasn't benefited
them much, if at all.
To simply brag about large macro numbers but not look at the effect
on the average person who is making $40-, $50-, $60,000 a year--that is
wrong. That is not helping them. The group who believes the economy is
benefitting them the most is making over $100,000 a year. God bless
them, but we ought to be working to spread economic benefits to the
middle class.
Despite the President's trumpeting of self-selected economic data,
the bottom line is this: The Trump economy is working OK if you are
already doing quite well, but it is not doing enough--not close to
enough--for working America and the middle class.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
