National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019--Motion to Proceed
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, last week I traveled all around my home State of Wyoming, and many Senators have done the same in their home States over the last week. I will tell my colleagues that the people I talked with had a great sense of optimism, confidence, and positiveness in terms of how things were going with their lives. People were feeling very positive about the American economy, about their own lives, and of course about their future.
We just saw new numbers on Friday showing that the American economy has created more than 1 million new jobs since we passed the Tax Relief and Jobs Act in December. Since President Trump was elected, we have actually gotten more than 3 million more Americans working.
Unemployment is now at 3.8 percent, and that matches the lowest rate in 50 years. Even the New York Times ran a headline saying: ``We Ran Out of Words to Describe How Good the Jobs Numbers Are.''
Think about that, the New York Times: ``We Ran Out of Words to Describe How Good the Jobs Numbers Are.''
Every month we have been adding thousands of new jobs in construction, in manufacturing, in healthcare, and mining. We have had strong and steady growth, and the American people and American families are benefiting in every part of the country. It is not just that people are getting jobs; it is that the jobs are paying better as well.
According to the most recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, there were a record number of small companies raising their wages last month--a record number raising wages. Average wages are up by 2.7 percent over the last year. Employers can pay more because business is booming. They need more workers.
On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said there are now 6.7 million job openings across the country. That is an alltime high. The Labor Department says that for the first time ever, there are actually more job openings than there are unemployed people who are looking for work.
It is an incredible situation. People look around them and see all of the hiring that is going on and all of the pay raises; it just makes people confident because they see it at home in their communities. It is not just something they read in the newspaper. It is not just something they see on TV. It is what they see at home in their communities in their own lives and in their own paychecks.
Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. People know things are going well. They know they have more money in their pockets, and they know the American economy is thriving.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta says they are at a pace for the economy to grow over 4 percent during the second quarter of this year.
Remember that Democrats have been saying there was no way we could even get to 3 percent. Now the Federal Reserve of Atlanta is saying over 4 percent, and they say we are actually heading to close to 5. It is excellent news, and it is not an accident. That is the thing, it is not an accident. It is happening because of the policies Republicans are implementing in Congress and in the White House. It is a partnership.
President Trump has been in office for 500 days, and it has been an incredibly productive time. He has been wiping burdensome and unnecessary regulations off the books. He has been making it easier for people to do their jobs, easier to live their lives.
President Trump issued an order cutting government redtape. He said for every significant new rule an agency wanted to write, it had to get rid of two rules. For every one new rule, get rid of two.
The result has been even better than expected. So far, in this fiscal year, agencies have cut 38 major regulations of the kind the President has been talking about. At the same time, they have only written five new regulations that are major regulations.
President Trump said he would cut two for every one new regulation, but what we really see is that the number is much closer to eight regulations cut for every new one.
Republicans in Congress have done the same. We have been cutting redtape. We have been loosening Washington's stranglehold on the economy, and we can see it in the economy every day. We have been cutting the mandates and the restrictions that hold back growth. We have cut the taxes people pay.
The tax relief law we passed in December was the biggest tax cut in 36 years. It gave people an immediate boost in their take-home pay. Millions of Americans also got bonuses and raises because of the law. It has been an enormous boost for the overall economy. We have a strong, healthy, and growing economy.
It is interesting because every Democrat in the Senate voted against the tax cut--every one of them. In fact, Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, said that if she had it her way, Democrats would get rid of the tax relief law and actually raise taxes again.
The American people know that would be a disaster. Democrats' ideas for higher taxes and lower take-home pay for families and more government regulation--which is what the Democrats are proposing--would do incredible damage to our economy and to our country.
Democrats tried their ideas when they were in charge, and they have failed. We had slow economic growth. We had stagnant wages. Democrats tried to say this was the new normal for America. The American people knew that could not be the new normal; it wasn't good enough. The American people will not tolerate it, and they voted to change it.
People said they wanted Republican ideas and Republican policies. Now they are seeing the results, and they are living with the benefits. People are seeing jobs numbers that are so good they have run out of words. As the headline says: We have run out of words to describe how good the jobs numbers are.
It has been 500 days, and we are just getting started. What we need to do now is keep looking for ways to create a growing economy, a strong economy, a healthy economy, with larger paychecks and more prosperity right here at home for American families.
One place we can do this is in the area of infrastructure. We can start with water infrastructure. These are the systems that deliver drinking water and treat wastewater. They provide water for our crops and cattle and small businesses. They are used to ship American-made goods from the heartland to the coasts and around the world. They keep our homes safe from dangerous floodwaters. They store water for times of drought.
These systems are vital to our country. They support America's economic growth and American competitiveness. We need to build, maintain, and upgrade them.
Over the past 50 years, we have gone from being a society that spends much more on construction to one spending much more on consumption. As a result, our bridges and our roads, dams, and waterways have suffered. That is why I introduced the America's Water Infrastructure Act. It is a bipartisan bill--something Republicans and Democrats agree we should do. It is a way to grow the economy, to cut Washington's redtape, and keep communities safe.
We are going to have a chance in the coming weeks to pass America's Water Infrastructure Act. Then we are going to look for more ways and things we can do to keep America growing and strong. That is what Republicans in Congress are committed to doing.
What this President and this Congress have accomplished together has truly been historic. We need to keep going. It is what the American people expect from us, and it is actually what they deserve.
Thank you.
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