Pelosi: ‘Democrats Will Restore the Economic Security of America’s Working Families’

Pelosi: ‘Democrats Will Restore the Economic Security of America’s Working Families’

Friday, September 22, 2006

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. â€" House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), Congressman George Miller (D-CA) and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) at an economic forum at the Capitol this morning to discuss the problems Americans face with obtaining a secure economic future. Below are Pelosi’s remarks:

â€Å"Last week, President Bush said that he hopes the upcoming elections ‘are based on economic performance.’ In that case, voters will have a clear choice and we welcome the challenge. I know that with the distinguished panel that we have today we will have even more substantive proposals to make the case to the American people. The case is clear â€" real incomes for middle-class families have declined since the President took office; annual costs have risen rapidly: health insurance has increased by almost $1,000, energy costs have increased by more than $2,000, and college costs have increased by more than $1,500.

â€Å"The middle class is being squeezed by lower incomes and increasing costs and being forced to live paycheck to paycheck. It is a reality in our country, one that the President doesn’t seem to be aware of. For the working poor, the crunch is even worse.

â€Å"This has been recently documented in a report by my colleague, Henry Waxman of California, the Senior Democrat on the Committee on Government Reform. Other studies support it: never before in our nation’s history have we had four years of economic growth and declining median income of working families.

â€Å"Corporate profits are the highest they have ever been since 1950 as a share of GDP, yet compensation for employees is the lowest, except for one year, since 1968 as a share of GDP. Further, this Administration has the worst record of job creation since Herbert Hoover. We have had the largest fiscal turnaround in our nation’s history. The Bush Administration already has accrued more foreign debt than the previous 42 Presidents combined. The policies of this Administration have favored the privileged few at the expense of America’s working families.

â€Å"We must move in a new direction for everyone â€" not just the privileged few. Just as we did under President Clinton, we can ensure economic growth that benefits every segment of our society, create enough jobs to meet the growing labor force, drive the unemployment rate to record lows, turn federal budget deficits into budget surpluses, and at the same time strengthen Social Security.

â€Å"Some of our proposals are in our New Direction for America that we put forth. Among the suggestions were to make the economy fairer by raising the minimum wage and repealing the subsidies for companies that send our jobs overseas. It’s quite a remarkable phenomenon: you’re a worker, you pay taxes, and your taxes are used to give an incentive to a company to send your job overseas, and then you are asked to train your replacement or else you won’t get any severance.

â€Å"Essential to economic security for American families is access to health care, and we will make health care more affordable by giving the federal government the opportunity to negotiate for the lower the cost of prescription drugs. We will make college more accessible by cutting interest rates for student loans in half, and making tuition tax deductible. And we will do this with fiscal discipline.

â€Å"In addition to some of those things that we can do within the first 100 hours of a new Congress, a longer-term goal would be to ensure economic justice and opportunity by supporting our Innovation Agenda. It says that the future prosperity and competitiveness of America demands that we initiate a sustained financial investment in innovation. In doing this, we must also ensure that our children and grandchildren are not burdened by failed policies that have exploded the national debt. That is why House Democrats put these priorities under the rigors of pay-as-you-go budgeting to ensure that new spending or tax cuts do not add to the deficit.

â€Å"Also essential to our economic success is to advance energy independence with solutions that are homegrown. Our energy independence plan commits America to a comprehensive plan that provides tax incentives to encourage increased biofuel production, increase the number of flex fuel cars, expand ethanol use, and it also goes to other alternative energy resources as well.

â€Å"Democrats believe that none of this matters unless we have strong national security to protect the American people. But the strength of our country must also be measured by the economic well-being of America’s families. Today, we will hear some positive initiatives on how to take us to that place, but we have a challenge because the priorities of this Administration have been for the privileged few and not for all Americans.”