John Spratt: “last week, the Commerce Department released the growth rate for the third quarter. It was good news, welcome news, the…”

“last week, the Commerce Department released the growth rate for the third quarter. It was good news, welcome news, the kind of news we can all cheer. According to the Commerce Department, the economy grew at a rate of 7.2 percent in the third quarter this year. Now, we all doubt, the President and all the rest of us, that this pace can be sustained, but we all hope that it signals the start of a strong recovery because, Mr. Speaker, it has been a long time coming. Most Americans will be surprised to hear it, but this economy officially moved out of recession 2 years ago, November 2001. And yet for 3 solid years, ever since even the recovery from the recession, the official recovery, the economy has continued to creep along, to scrape bottom. All together, we have had a net job loss in the private sector since 2001 of 3.2 million jobs; 3.2 million jobs have been lost; 2.6 to 2.7 million of those jobs have been lost in manufacturing, some of the best jobs we have got. And I am afraid some of those jobs are not coming back, even if the economy recovers. So before anybody hangs out a 'mission accomplished' banner over this economy, I think it is important we recognize tonight and henceforth that there is a lot left to be done.”