03.07.14

Sessions: Households Have Lost $278B In Income Over The Last Five Years

 WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed that February marked the 74th straight month that employment levels have been below what they were at the start of the recession:

“Since 2007, the population has grown by 15 million. Yet there are 1 million fewer Americans who are working. The result is a shrinking workforce and expanding welfare rolls. Even over the last year, there were 13 percent more workforce dropouts than job gains, and 1 in 5 households are now on food stamps. The economy has consistently produced too few jobs to keep up with population growth, and did so again this month, falling 20,000 shy of the 195,000 jobs just needed to stay even. This is now the 74 straight months beneath the employment levels at the beginning of the recession. The President’s plan to spend and borrow and add debt in order to revive the economy has proved to be one of the most costly failed gambits our nation has seen.

Government debt has increased 64 percent since 2009, from $10.6 trillion to $17.4 trillion. Yet, median household income has decreased 4.5 percent over that same time—that’s $2,268 per household, or $278 billion in total lost income.

Not only did this unprecedented accumulation of debt drain the nation of its wealth, but it failed to provide even the temporary benefit promised. Indeed, this massive build-up of debt has weakened growth and dampened job creation. Yet this week the President submitted another tax-and-spend budget that would add $8 trillion to our $17 trillion debt. He would add more than $1 trillion in taxes to an already weak economy, further growing Washington and shrinking the middle class.

Clearly, we must pursue a new course that creates jobs and that does not add to the debt. Here’s how: more American energy; a streamlined tax code; elimination of harmful regulations; a trade and immigration policy that serves American workers; making government leaner and more efficient; and a plan to balance the federal budget and restore confidence in the future.”