Sean Patrick Maloney: “as Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, I am pleased to speak in the time reserved by the Budget Act for a…”

“as Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, I am pleased to speak in the time reserved by the Budget Act for a discussion of economic goals. America has the strongest and wealthiest economy in the world. When government makes the right choices, economic growth helps all Americans live a better life today and provides a good future for our children tomorrow. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has not been making responsible choices over the past 7 years. We must chart a more sensible course for economic policy than has been pursued by this administration. Our Democratic majority has made important progress, but there is still much more to do. President Bush was once fond of saying that his policies were working to make the economy strong. But the economy is now teetering on the brink of what may be the second recession of the Bush Presidency. It is now clear that even the relatively weak economic growth experienced earlier in this administration was built on an unstable foundation. The soaring housing prices that helped fuel our economic recovery now appear to have been a classic asset bubble. The collapse of that bubble is spreading throughout our entire financial and credit system. American families are optimistic, by nature, but they are understandably worried about the future. Most American families have struggled just to hold their economic ground.”