Senate Leadership

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, there is no question that the premier issue for most Americans is jobs and the economy. It is the issue that is on the minds of all Americans. They are pocketbook issues that impact middle-class Americans all across the country.

For the past 3 1/2 years, the President and the Democrats here in the Senate have failed to provide the leadership America needs to make a stronger middle class. Middle-class Americans continue to face a bleak economic picture on this President's watch. We have seen gas prices more than double--the highest level in September that we have ever seen for the month of September. Middle-class income is down by nearly $4,000 since the President took office. Just last week, a Kaiser Family Foundation study came out indicating worker health insurance costs have increased by 29 percent since the President took office. The President promised to lower health care costs by $2,500 per family. Instead, average family premiums have increased by over $3,000 since he took office.

Republicans have solutions to grow the economy and to help the middle class, strengthen the middle class. We support commonsense solutions such as increasing domestic energy, reforming our Tax Code, and stopping the job-killing regulations that are killing our small businesses. We hope to have the opportunity to work on those solutions for America's future.

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