Political Quotes

“2 weeks ago we received the initial report on economic growth in the first quarter of 2016. The news was not good. As my colleague, the Senator from Alaska, Mr. Sullivan, has pointed out many times on the floor and in many forums, our economy grew at a dismal rate of one-half of 1 percent during the first 3 months of 2016--one-half of 1 percent economic growth. In other words, the economy barely grew at all. While this report was particularly terrible, the truth is, weak economic growth has become the norm under the Obama administration. Since the recession ended in June of 2009, the economy has grown at an average rate of just 2.1 percent. In the typical post-1960 recovery, by contrast, economic growth averaged 3.7 percent. That is a huge difference. It is the difference between a stagnant economy and a flourishing economy--and, for millions of American families, it is the difference between surviving and thriving. Middle-class families are making 6.5 percent less than they were making in 2007, before the start of the great recession. A large part of the reason for that is the sluggish economic growth we have experienced in the Obama recovery. For too many families, this slow recovery has meant the end of cherished dreams--the dream of owning their own home, the dream of sending their kids to college, the dream of a secure retirement--and the kind of growth we need to escape from these economic doldrums is nowhere in sight.…”