美国共和党参议员每周视频致辞(2016年5月14日)
I'm Dan Sullivan, and I'm proud to represent the great state of Alaska in the U.S. Senate.
Today, I want to talk to you about the economy – one of the most critical issues facing our country – and about the lost decade of economic growth under the Obama Administration.
A few weeks ago, it was announced that America's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at only one half of one percent during the first quarter of 2016. Gross Domestic Product is an important indicator of the health of our economy, it measures progress – the essence of the American dream. 0.5 percent GDP growth is a reminder of what we already know. Our economy is stagnant. The American dream has become a mirage for millions of American families.
The average annual GDP growth rate for America is nearly 4 percent. The Obama Administration's annual rate has been about 1.5 percent; in fact, they've never even hit 3 percent GDP growth in one quarter. We can do so much better for America. But President Obama tells us differently. He lowers expectations by calling his very weak economic record the 'new normal.' He has even taken to bragging about his administration's economic record.
In a recent speech, he actually said that we are 'better off today than we were just seven years ago.' He said that anybody who tells you differently is 'not telling the truth.'
Well, I hate to tell the President this, but even former President Bill Clinton said this about the Obama economy: 'millions and millions and millions of people look at that pretty picture of America President Obama has painted and they can't find themselves in it.'
It's not hard to see why they can't find themselves in President Obama's pretty picture:
During nearly 8 years of the Obama Administration, the number of Americans participating in the labor force is now at its lowest rate since 1978. People are just giving up looking for a job.
More Americans have fallen into poverty.
Family paychecks have declined and the number of people on food stamps has skyrocketed by 40 percent, all during the Obama years.
And the percentage of Americans who own homes – a marker of the promise of the American Dream – is down 5.2 percent.
And more and more Americans believe that we are on the wrong track and that their kids will not be as well off as they are today.
The DNA of America is based on the promise of progress, but that is losing out to President Obama's surrender and his 'new normal' economy.
Something is terribly wrong in our country when a leading Democrat recently bragged that 'we're going to put a lot of coal miners and a lot of coal companies out of business.' But it doesn't have to be this way.
Strong economic growth made the United States the greatest country on earth.
We have a moral imperative to recognize that we have experienced a lost decade of economic growth and opportunity, and we have to change this.
We have a moral imperative to recognize what pervasive poverty does to our citizens – it creates holes in the social fabric that holds us together – and how and when our citizens fall through the holes, a piece of all of us goes with them. Because although we are individuals, we are all in this together as Americans.
We have a moral imperative to grow our economy again and create economic opportunity for middle-class families.
We are the United States of America. Our economy and workers have been the envy of the world for decades. The economic future for our children can be limitless if we have a federal government that is a partner in opportunity, not the obstacle that it is today. But in order to do all of this, we're going to need a change in Washington – a change that doesn't settle for the 'new normal' economy.
We can, we will, and we must reach our full economic potential as Americans. Thank you.
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