The Economy

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I close, I want to mention the good economic news that continues to pour in. The economy created more than 200,000 jobs in August, beating expectations, and the unemployment rate was yet again below 4 percent.

Economic growth in the second quarter was even stronger than we thought--a robust 4.2 percent. Average hourly earnings for workers are rising at the fastest rate since 2009. Middle-class income hit its highest level ever last year.

In 2017, U.S. job openings have hit a record high of 6.94 million jobs. In fact, the number of job openings has exceeded the number of unemployed in this country for the past 5 months. Think about that. The number of job openings--the number of jobs available to people in this country--has exceeded the number of people who are unemployed in this country for the past 5 months. That has never happened before in the history of tracking those two statistics.

Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. Small business optimism shattered its previous record high to reach a record high in August. The poverty rate has dropped to its lowest level since 2006. The percentage of Americans listing economic issues as the most important problem in the United States dropped to a record low, and the list continues.

These are all facts. These are indisputable facts, and they are the results of policies that are put in place with an eye toward growing this economy at a faster rate and creating better paying jobs and higher wages for people in our economy.

Since President Trump took office, Republicans have focused on fixing those things that have been holding the economy back. We removed burdensome regulations. We passed historic comprehensive reform in our Tax Code to put more money in Americans' pockets and to remove barriers to job creation and economic growth. Now we are seeing the results: strong economic growth--as I mentioned, 4.2 percent in the second quarter of this year--thriving small businesses, with optimism and investing confidence unlike anything we have seen in history, more money in families' paychecks, new jobs, better paying jobs, better benefits, and more opportunities for American workers.

Mr. President, America is back in business, and it is American families and American workers who are benefiting from that. We intend to continue to work on an agenda that creates policies that will drive and fuel economic growth in this country and provide more opportunities, a better standard of living, and a higher quality of life for all Americans.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source