The State of the Economy

Floor Speech

THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY -- (House of Representatives - January 16, 2008)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) is recognized for 60 minutes.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, in coming today on the first day back in this new session, the second session of the 110th Congress, I wanted to take a little bit of time to reflect on some of the changes that happened in this Congress but also more importantly to look towards the future and look at the priorities that this new Congress is bringing.

It's very apparent that myself and my 43 Democratic colleagues were brought to this House, the reason we were sent here was to change the way business has been done. It wasn't about maintaining a status quo. It wasn't about talking about issues that weren't relevant to their lives. It was very apparent that at least in my district of southern Minnesota that they chose to send a schoolteacher without political experience to Congress to speak about those issues that were most on their minds, to talk about the issues of economic equality, to talk about the issues of true national security, to talk about the issues that were going to impact their children for generations to come.

And in doing so, they sent several loud and clear messages to us. And I think first and foremost, as I'm joined with some of my other freshman Democratic colleagues, it was very apparent to many of us that we were sent here to talk about those issues in a manner that was about effectiveness. It was not about ideology. It was not about espousing to have a firm belief or the firm understanding that we had all the answers. The belief was to work together, to work with the experts, to work with local elected officials and come up with some of the most pressing solutions.

And I think many of us understood during our campaigns and the time that we've been here in Congress, it's not surprising to anyone, and my colleagues tonight will talk about these things, they didn't need to see a poll to understand that Americans were becoming very nervous with the state of the economy.

They were told over and over and over again by this administration that they were living in the best economy America had ever seen, and they would quote facts and figures like the gross domestic product and things like that. And when I would talk to my constituents in southern Minnesota, they would come up with something that was very insightful. They would say, I don't know. It's very possible that the GDP is growing, but that's not filling my gas tank; and, I don't know about you, but college is becoming more expensive; and, I'm concerned about heating oil prices this fall; and, I'm concerned that what's happening with the economy is not moving any closer to addressing those issues that I care most about.

They were concerned about the loss of their jobs. They were continuously told that this global economy and these trade agreements that we were working on would grow these wonderful jobs, wonderful prosperity, and what they continued to hear in the news was global corporations making record profits as we saw real wages for working Americans sink.

They were told that this great awakening of the global economy would be so helpful to them, and then they would open up their gas bills for heating and find out that they were having trouble making ends meet. They were told that this great global economy would bring a lasting prosperity to them, and they were receiving lay-off notices or many of the other ills that had come with it.

I think many of us understood, and not denying that there is a global economy, there is a need for an interconnectedness, but it needs to be based on some solid principles that benefit those vast majority of Americans.

So I think as we get ready to talk about some of those priorities we get ready to talk about what this Congress can do and what this Nation should do to make sure that our economic prosperity is not limited to a small slice of the population, and in fact, it's limited to the slice of the population that quite honestly isn't producing that well.

Americans over the last 5 years have got a record that I think they can be very proud of. Their productivity levels are as high as any Nation in the world. The thing that becomes a disconnect on that is, as that productivity levels went up, their real wages went down. At the same time, they watched CEO salaries and corporate profits reach an all-time high. And that disconnect is breeding that sense of anxiety amongst the public, and I think there's some things that this Congress can do and will do to address those needs and to put policies forward.

I have a couple of interesting statistics that I think Americans should know. First and foremost, on December 21, President Bush, giving a speech on the economy, was clear to stress how strong this economy is. And in fact, his outgoing economic policy adviser said, We just don't see the reason the economy won't continue to expand. Had I been a reporter in that room or a Congressman there, I might have asked, For who will it expand? And the issue or the answer to that is not for the working middle class.

We see 47 million Americans without health care. I think a more telling statistic is this. I came to this Congress as a high school teacher. I was lucky to have years of experience and advanced degrees that put me a little further on the pay scale. Had I been a first year teacher teaching high school in southern Minnesota, I would have started at just around $32,000 a year. My share of the premium for family health care coverage would have been $7,200 a year right off the top of that. And this is an issue that would expand that 47 million into another possibly 50 million that are on the verge of being unable to pay for it.

So we have issues of health care costs. We have issues of energy costs. We have issues of tuition and those types of things. And as this Congress came to session, those are the issues we were talking about, making college more affordable, addressing the issue of moving into renewable energies and passing CAFE standards to make our automobiles reach that level of efficiency that will help working class families.

So, as I'm joined here tonight by my colleagues from across this great Nation, and I might add, a very optimistic group at that and a very visionary group that understand, and the last statistic I will give before letting some of my colleagues join in on this, we had a piece of research that was done by the independent, nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. And they did a study asking what had added to our national deficit, and their conclusion was that 98 percent of that was added by legislative choices, the biggest being tax cuts for a very small percentage that, quite honestly, we were told on theory would generate wealth back into the economy.

The fact of the matter is the tax cuts were not targeted at our great entrepreneurial class. They were not targeted at those people who were going to create jobs and reinvest. They were targeted to people that would continue to build trust funds to pass on to future generations of that very, very thin privileged class.

And because of that, this Congress has got work to do. This Congress and these Members that were sent to this Congress that will speak tonight were sent by their constituents not to talk ideology, not to argue with the other side, but to look at the issues and not come with facts and figures, but to say, Hey, I'm a schoolteacher sitting in southern Minnesota and I'm having trouble making ends meet and I actually could qualify for food stamps. What's wrong with an economy that does that and what can be done to bring back a sense of fairness to it?

I think the good news in this is, if 98 percent of the Federal deficit was caused directly as a consequence of legislation, we've got the opportunity to reverse that. And I'm proud to be standing with three Members that I know have that as a priority, and I'd like to first of all yield to my colleague south of the border in Iowa, Mr. Braley.

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Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Absolutely. And as I said, it's very encouraging, and I think it should be, Mr. Speaker, to the American people to see the dedication and the commitment. I know my colleague from Minneapolis has taken a lead role on this issue of foreclosures. And as my colleague from down in Iowa has said, this is an area that no one is escaping being touched by this. Mr. Ellison may represent a very urban area in Minneapolis, but Mr. Braley and I and the rest of us here have areas that are somewhat rural, and we are feeling that pinch. We're feeling it.

One thing I would say is it reminds me, in thinking of the story that you just recalled about President Roosevelt's knowing us, I'd like to give you a quote from our current President when he was out meeting constituents. And this was out in Omaha, Nebraska, a little while back, and it was with a woman named Mary Mornin. And Mary was explaining, she was a woman in her fifties, a divorced mother of three, including a special needs child. And she was explaining to the President at that time, just several years ago already, of the growing anxiety she had about what was happening. And she mentioned to the President that to make ends meet, she was working three jobs. And the President said, ``You work three jobs?''

Ms. Mornin said, ``Yes, sir, three jobs.''

And the President said, ``Wow, that's uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that's fantastic that you're doing that.'' And then he laughed and said, ``laughter'' in parentheses here, ``Do you get any sleep?''

And Ms. Mornin said, ``No, not much.''

This President has been so out of touch with the reality that affects most Americans that he can stand in front of them and tell us this is the greatest economy ever. He can stand there and watch as the housing market imploded and the indicators were there and people were asking him to do things about that. He can stand there and talk about this being the greatest economy under his watch full well knowing that the facts indicate he took office with a $126 billion surplus and he has continuously driven us into debt.

We are at a point in this great Nation now that last year alone we spent $406 billion servicing the interest on the debt, not the principle.

Mr. ELLISON. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I yield.

Mr. ELLISON. How much is your debt for this big debt that he has run up?

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. It's $30,000 for each and every one of us.

Mr. ELLISON. How about little Gus, your son?

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Gus is 14 months. His is $30,000, not counting the interest.

I would just make this point that the President, in the theatrics of the appropriation bills to run this country, held up funding across the spectrum from veterans to health care research to our soldiers' pay increase that he pocket vetoed, all of these things, over $22 billion. And I want you to put this into perspective. What this President has done in his fiscal irresponsibility, which should not surprise a single person in this country given his track record on the private sector and given that he was practicing, as my colleagues have said, a very tenuous principle of trickle down, that took the complexity of the entire economy and shook it down into one mantra. Today as this economy and this Democratic Congress is looking for real solutions for working Americans, the President is concerned about making tax cuts permanent in the year 2011 when they expire. All of the money that we spent last year on higher education, on our veterans, on conservation, and on medical research does not equal the amount we spent servicing the debt. Think what this great Nation can do.

And with that, I yield to the doctor from Wisconsin.

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Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I think it's interesting, and the changes that this
Congress has meant to bring, this stimulus package has meant, as all my colleagues have talked about, is of being that short-term, targeted, temporary reform that will put money right into the economy. That is in exact opposition to, I guess, the plan this President has espoused for the past 6 years that has drained money from not only the Federal coffers, but has drained jobs and siphoned them overseas.

I think it's really critical. A couple of points. I think my colleague from Louisville was exactly right when he was talking about the pendulum has swung. The only thing I wished on that is, and I think people need to be very clear about is, there is no natural order to things where that pendulum will come back on its own. The change to make that pendulum come back was the votes that were cast last year for Members, just like this, standing here. Sometimes you have got to reach up and grab that pendulum and get your hands a little bit bloody, pulling it back to where it needs to be.

That is exactly what we are trying to do. But as we are doing this today, some of the leadership on the Republican side of the aisle held a news conference and put forward a piece of legislation that they would do, that they would target to help this situation, to take away the anxiety of working class Americans, to make them feel like they can feed their family, heat their homes, and keep their good job. And their solution? Corporate tax breaks. The only thing in their package, reducing the corporate tax rate.

We all understand the theory that that will allow for corporate America to reinvest in infrastructure, to reinvest in jobs. In theory, it sounds brilliant. In practice, it's going to mean higher CEO salaries and more imports coming from China where they put the factories to save the money on the labor, to save the money on the environmental standards.

So those are the type of things that I think need to be clear, and I hear my colleague from Colorado saying very clear that we were not sent here to bicker, we were not sent here to espouse ideology, but we were sent here with a very clear mandate: Force change. The status quo would say, Continue on with President Bush's tax cuts, give corporate tax breaks. But everyone in this room knows that your constituents, the vast majority of Americans know that is not going to work.

So I am quite intrigued that our colleagues on the other side are going to stick with that. And I don't know if they need to poke their heads outside a little bit more, but that wind of change is blowing very hard and it will sweep this place clean. It will sweep this place clean and put people here who understand those needs, who don't need to go and find talking points to understand how hard it is to send your kids to college, to understand paying a gas bill becomes a major family issue. And it needs to understand that what President Bush failed to realize with Ms. Mornin is, this wasn't a sense of she wanted to be away from her child, working three jobs. She had to be.

And the idea that you should be proud, and we are going to hear more about this, this idea of productivity is a great thing, but in many cases, Americans will work as hard as they possibly can. But the problem with this economy is the return is not coming.

Before I yield to my colleagues, I think this is one thing that we were sent here to reinspire, to get Americans to change their view on this, because I think this is one of the most disturbing statistics that I have ever heard. Now, for the first time since they have been asking this question, since President Bush's Presidency, and during this time period, when asked if their children will be better off than they were, the majority of Americans respond no. They do not believe that the leadership out of this administration or the previous years of Republican-led Congresses have done anything to set a vision for America.

So I don't know if we should be surprised that the solution would be more of the same coming from the other side. The solution that the American people want is not more of the same. It's a change that reflects their values.

So with that, I would yield to my friend from Wisconsin for a few closing words from him.

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Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I thank the gentleman. I thank all of my colleagues. I cannot tell you how proud I am to have each and every one of you here, and while all of us believe in the free market, the one thing I know for sure is I believe a lot more in my fellow citizens, and I thank the citizens of Colorado and of Wisconsin and of Kentucky and of Iowa for sending people here who care about those values, who want to get that right.

So with that, I leave in an optimistic state of mind. I leave with the American people, Mr. Speaker, knowing that these gentlemen here are going to direct us in the right direction and truly bring back that sense of equity.

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