“Small businesses are much more optimistic than they’ve been since 1983. They’re hiring, they’re expanding, they’re raising wages, and they are much more confident about the future. It’s all happening because of the Republican policies and the Republican priorities we’ve been putting into place.”

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the Senate floor about how the economy is booming and more Americans are finding jobs and seeing higher wages.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“We’ve been seeing a lot of great news about the American economy lately.

“Last Friday, the Wall Street Journal had an article with the headline ‘Youth Unemployment Hits 52-Year Low.’

“For people between the ages of 16 and 24, this is the best job market we’ve had since 1966.

“The article went on to say ‘more opportunities are available to groups that historically have struggled to find jobs.’

“People are getting opportunities because the American economy is booming.

“Since President Trump was elected, we’ve gotten more than 4 million additional Americans working.

“The economy grew at a rate of more than 4 percent last quarter.

“The Atlanta branch of the Federal Reserve is predicting that we’re going to have another 4 percent growth this quarter.

“People are seeing the effect of the booming economy in their paychecks and in their lives.

“Average wages are up by more than 3 percent from last year.

“You look at all the good news and it’s no wonder that confidence is going through the roof.

“Small businesses are much more optimistic than they’ve been since 1983.

“They’re hiring, they’re expanding, they’re raising wages, and they are much more confident about the future.

“It’s all happening because of the Republican policies and the Republican priorities we’ve been putting into place.

“It’s what happens when you have a president who puts the needs of the people first – instead of the desires of unelected, unaccountable, heavy-handed, Washington bureaucrats.

“When President Trump took office, one of the first things he did was to put Washington on a regulation diet.

“He said that America was open for business again.

“So what happened?

“In the Trump administration’s first year, they issued three new regulations, and they cut 67 regulations.

“Three regulatory actions, versus 67 deregulatory actions.

“That’s a ratio of 22 to one in favor of cutting red tape, cutting the amount of paperwork that people have to fill out.

“Nobody’s ever seen anything like this.

“This administration working with this Senate and House has been streamlining, and simplifying, and striking out regulations from the very beginning – and we’re not slowing down.

“When you add it all up, it amounts to $14 billion in savings since the start of the Trump administration.

“Republicans in Congress have been doing our part as well.

“We know that the reason America’s economy had been struggling for so long was because it was being strangled by all of the red tape that comes out of Washington.

“So we used the authority of Congress to roll back major regulations that were harming our economy.

“We cut 16 unnecessary, burdensome rules and saved Americans $36 billion in the process.

“So if you combine what the president has done and what we’ve done in Congress by passing the Congressional Review Acts, Republicans have saved Americans $50 billion and over 16 million hours of filling out needless paperwork.

“Of course, Republicans also passed the biggest tax cut in 36 years.

“That’s the other big thing Republicans have done to get the American economy booming.

“Every Democrat in the Senate voted against the tax cut that Republicans passed.

“This tax relief law gave people an immediate boost in their take-home pay.

“Millions of Americans also got bonuses and raises because of the law.

“Because Republicans have cut regulations and cut taxes, America has a strong, healthy, and growing economy today.

“The Congressional Budget Office came out with a new report recently.

“They looked at the numbers for the first 10 months of the fiscal year that we’re now in.

“They looked at the rising wages and the rising employment. The falling unemployment.

“They said those are big reasons why revenue for the federal government is actually $26 billion higher than it was at this point last year.

“Because when you cut taxes, you turn the economy loose—you turn it loose to create jobs, good things happen.

“The economy grows, more people find work, more people get raises, more people get more money in their own pockets, and revenue goes up as well.

“Republicans want to keep going with more of these policies that have worked so well to spur our economy.

“We want to do more to help the economy create jobs, and more to help people keep more of what they earn.

“I think that’s what the American people want as well.

“What do Democrats in Washington want?

“Well, they seem to want the exact opposite. That’s the way they vote, and that’s what they’ve been saying.

“Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts actually introduced legislation last week that would create an entirely new bureaucracy.

“Republicans are trying to rein in the bureaucrats, and Democrats are trying to give bureaucrats more power.

“This new Democrat plan would give Washington more power to control how American businesses operate.

“It would take away the freedom of the owners and the executives of these companies to create jobs, to serve their customers, and to grow the economy.

“Democrats are clearly hoping that this will become the new and latest liberal litmus test.

“It would be an absolute disaster – just like all of the other plans that we’ve heard from the Democrats that they are trying to put in place.

“It’s like Democrats’ plan that they claim they want to raise taxes.

“That’s actually what Nancy Pelosi said, the former Speaker of the House, she said Democrats would do if they can take back Congress, they would raise taxes.

“One Democrat leader, very prominent, on television, governor of one of the major cities, said ‘We are not going to make America great again’ – they say, ‘America was never that great.’

“This is what the Democratic governor of New York said last week.

“There are some very big differences between Democrats and Republicans.

“Republicans want policies that put more money in the pockets of hard-working people.

“Republicans want policies that take more control out of Washington and let the decisions be made back at home—in the hands of states, and towns, and families.

“Democrats seem to want to raise taxes and raise barriers to the economy.

“We’re coming up on Labor Day.

“And I hope that Democrats in Washington and around the country will embrace the policies that will actually help create jobs.

“I hope that Democrats are going to embrace the policies that are helping young people find work at the highest rate in 52 years.

“I hope that Democrats will embrace the policies that are actually raising wages for American families.

“I hope that Democrats will recognize that America is a great country – and it is getting better every day.”

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