“The president talks about moving forward, but the reality is that American paychecks are moving backward.”
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s speech.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about how President Obama’s economic policies have failed to produce the results, the accountability, and the solutions the American people deserve.
Excerpts of his remarks are below:
“I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about our economy.
“This speech is not about the economy that we wish we had. This speech is not about the economy that we used to have. This is about the economy that we have today.
“By now, Americans are all too familiar with the bad economic news.
“The front page of today’s ‘Wall Street Journal’ provides little respite from the bad news. It reads ‘Household Income Sinks to 1995 level.’
“The president talks about moving forward, but the reality is that American paychecks are moving backward.
“The article goes on to describe a report from the Census Bureau. A report that illustrates what millions of Americans already know.
“We are not better off than we were last year. Or the year before. Or the year before that.
“In fact, the Census Bureau’s data shows that household incomes in 2011 fell for the fourth consecutive year.
“Hardworking American’s don’t need census data to tell them this. They know it.
“All they need to do is look at their paycheck. For many, it is significantly smaller.
“While paychecks continue to shrink, the cost of everyday living has gone up.
“Gasoline prices have gone up another 30 cents a gallon in just over a month.
“Americans recently paid the highest price ever on a labor day weekend.
“One out of every seven people in America is now on food stamps.
“In 2008, that was before President Obama’s election, the poverty rate was 13.2 percent and 39.8 million Americans were in poverty.
“This week’s numbers show a 16 percent increase in just 3 years.
“Poverty rate remains stuck at its highest level since 1993.
“I made many of the same points last week in response to the president’s weekly address, but I feel that it’s important to make them again.
“While many Americans worry about their shrinking paycheck, far too many others have no paycheck at all.
“Today, today, 23 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed. Many are our friends, our neighbors, and family members.
“The undeniable truth is, President Obama is on track to have the worst jobs record of any president since World War II.
“When the president was hyping his so-called stimulus program, his economic team claimed that unemployment would not go above 8 percent, and that it would be below 6 percent by now.
“Instead, it’s been above 8 percent for 43 straight months.
“According to last week’s jobs data, unemployment dropped from 8.3% to 8.1%.
“Well, why did that happen? It didn’t drop because of newly created jobs.
“It dropped because 368,000 Americans simply gave up looking for work. They just gave up.
“As I said at the beginning of this address on the floor of the Senate, it’s not about the economy that we wish we had or that we used to have.
“It’s about the economy that we have today.
“It’s about reality.
“Instead of giving President Obama four more years to continue the policies that have not worked and are not working, it’s time for a change.”
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