John Kerry: “this is a good day for hard-working Americans and small business owners across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The…”

“this is a good day for hard-working Americans and small business owners across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The final passage of the Small Business Job Protection Act will stoke the engine of job growth in this country and will help further the current economic expansion. Just 2 days ago, we learned that, in the second quarter of 1996, our national economy posted a robust 4.2 percent growth rate. This buoyant growth figure is just the latest indication that the Clinton economic plan which the Congress passed in 1993 without one single Republican vote is benefiting hard-working Americans. We have unprecedented low interest rates and subdued inflation and unemployment levels. In fact, the Clinton plan has created more than 10 million jobs since its enactment. Mr. President, the Clinton plan reduced the deficit from a record-high $290 billion in 1992 to a projected $117 billion this year. That is a 60-percent reduction of the deficit in 4 years, Mr. President. But some Members on the other side of the aisle seem to forget that deficit reduction is, in and of itself, not an economic policy. Cutting wasteful spending in order to keep interest rates low whole protecting programs and services which stimulate growth and create jobs is an economic policy. It is an economic plan. It is, in fact, the core of the Clinton plan, and I am pleased to have helped shape this plan.”