TROUBLING ECONOMIC NEWS -- (House of Representatives - November 17, 2004)
GPO's PDF
---
(Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, as we returned for this lame duck session, we are confronted with a slew of troubling economic news. Just yesterday we learned that inflation is up by 1.7 percent, the sharpest monthly increase in over 15 years. The value of the dollar is dropping to all-time new lows. We also learned that the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation's long-term deficit doubled from $11.2 billion to $23.3 billion, a deficit resulting from the PBGC assuming responsibilities for pension plans of 192 failed companies, up from 155 last year alone.
And while we are confronting these new challenges, the annual budget deficit is at $400 billion, an all-time high. On top of the pension benefit deficit, the Federal Government has added, in just the last 3 years, $2 trillion to the Nation's debt, and we are being asked to vote on an additional $900 billion just this week alone.
Mr. Speaker, the American people look to us to solve their problems,
GPO's PDF
America's problems, not our own problems or our own challenges. But in some ways finishing last year's business this year is a fitting end to the 108th Congress.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r108:9:./temp/~r1085ufIp1::
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
