An Historic Economic Moment for the American People
‘[I]n just the year and half since Republicans passed comprehensive tax reform, 19 different states have set new all-time lows in their unemployment rates - including the Commonwealth of Kentucky… Overall, under the Republican policies of the last two years the number of job openings across the country has surpassed the number of Americans looking for work for the first time in recorded history. Think about that -- there’s more than one job opening for every American who wants a job.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the benefits Americans continue to see from the Republican pro-opportunity, pro-growth agenda:
“As I mentioned, we’re in the middle of an historic economic moment for the American people. Last week, of course, the nationwide unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since December of 1969. And in just the year and half since Republicans passed comprehensive tax reform, 19 different states have set new all-time lows in their unemployment rates – including the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
“If you compare today to November 2016, there are now nearly 70 percent more job openings in durable goods manufacturing and more than twice as many job openings in construction. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of new job openings in these sectors alone. Overall, under the Republican policies of the last two years the number of job openings across the country has surpassed the number of Americans looking for work for the first time in recorded history. Think about that -- there’s more than one job opening for every American who wants a job.
“So this economic moment, helped along by Republican policies, has placed American workers in much higher demand. And we know what happens when American workers are in higher demand: They get paid more. And sure enough -- from late 2017 to late 2018, wage growth for U.S. workers logged its fastest full-year growth rate in a decade. What’s more, the New York Times reported, quote, ‘the recent gains are going to those who need it most. Over the past year, low-wage workers have experienced the fastest pay increases, a shift from earlier in the recovery, when wage growth was concentrated at the top.’
“Of course, that phrase ‘earlier in the recovery’ is code for during the Obama Administration. How often do we hear the left invoke the stale talking point that pro-growth policies only help wealthy people? Anyone who’s cracked open a history book knows it’s absurd to say that American free enterprise only helps wealthy people and that state-controlled socialism helps everyone else. And anyone who’s picked up a newspaper in the last year and a half knows it, too. Capitalism and free enterprise are the best tools humanity has ever discovered for lifting up the vulnerable and empowering people. It was true in the 19th century, it was true in the 20th century, and it is still proving true in 2019.
“So it’s been on Republicans’ watch that we’re actually seeing low-wage workers and non-management workers receive the fastest wage growth. On Republicans’ watch that the unemployment rate specifically for Americans without high-school diplomas fell to its lowest rate since 1992. It’s been on Republicans’ watch that newspapers describe, quote, ‘a wave of disabled Americans’ who’ve been able to join or return to the workforce.
“So my Republican colleagues and I could not be more proud of the conditions our policies have helped create for all kinds of American workers and their families. And we will continue to defend these gains, put pro-growth, pro-opportunity reforms in place, and stand up against the far-left grab bag of socialist ideas that would threaten America’s progress.”
Related Issues: Tax Reform, Taxes, Economy, Jobs
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