Mr. President, I rise today to express my concern over the current state of the economy. Too many working Americans are confronted with difficult financial situations due to the slowdown in the economy. I continue to believe in economic education and financial literacy as a major part of the solution for people to improve their unique situations. However, such efforts cannot truly succeed without sound fiscal policies to keep our economy strong. Many American families are having difficulties making ends meet. Over two million jobs have been lost since January 2001. The unemployment rate for September was 5.6 percent, an increase from the 3.9 percent unemployment rate in September and October of 2000. Home foreclosures are occurring at the fastest rate in thirty years and others are falling behind on their payments. Health care costs have increased rapidly. As a result, many are paying substantially more for their insurance coverage. Rising prescription drug costs have made it costly to obtain necessary medication, particularly for seniors.
Mr. President, I agree with the Majority Leader in his prescription for the sick economy. Unemployment insurance must be extended to help those who are still struggling to find work in these tough economic times. An estimated 1.5 million people exhausted their federal extended unemployment benefits by the end of September. The total for the end of the year is expected to rise to 2.2 million individuals.
Mr. President, the minimum wage needs to be increased. Since establishing the minimum wage requirement in 1938, we have had only 19 increases in the minimum wage. The latest occurred in September 1997. The earnings of average Americans have grown little, and the overall distribution of income has become increasingly unequal. The real value of the minimum wage has fallen by 11 percent since the last increase. Currently, a minimum wage employee working full time earns about $4,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. We need to increase the minimum wage to help those millions of Americans earning the minimum wage who are rapidly becoming a permanent underclass in our society.
Mr. President, the savings of Americans have been ravaged in the last few years. The reduction in the value of retirement accounts is particularly troubling because Americans will have a harder time achieving the goal of a comfortable retirement. Over $210 billion in 401(k) and other defined contribution plans was lost in 2001. Individual Retirement Accounts lost over $230 billion in 2001.
Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and other criminally managed companies have shaken the markets after the accounting scandals and disclosure of corporate misdeeds. We need the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to be aggressive in its pursuit of fraud and corporate malfeasance.
Without trust, our markets and economy cannot effectively function. The Sarbanes Corporate Accountability legislation that passed this summer will help provide additional safeguards for investors. With the recent addition of the new Securities and Exchange Commissioners, I look forward to the development of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. It is my hope that the organization will become a friend and advocate for the investor --not the accounting industry. The Corporate Accountability bill must be strongly enforced. In addition, pension protection legislation needs to be enacted to empower workers to make it easier for them to sell company stock and to make their investments more secure.
Mr. President, it is troubling that revenues have declined when there are so many domestic and defense needs. The 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut, which was enacted in June 2001, has contributed to a rapid surge in the size of the federal budget deficit. The FY 2002 budget deficit is now estimated to be $157 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office's monthly budget review. Gone are the years of budget surpluses. Although some of this can be attributed to necessary spending for national security in the wake of September 11, 2001, we cannot ignore the overall impact of last year's tax cut package. We must reexamine the tax cuts that have yet to take effect. The tax cuts were enacted at a time when the economy appeared stronger, there was a federal budget surplus, and the tragic events of September 11 had not yet occurred. Now, fiscal responsibility requires all options to be on the table, such as postponing or canceling specific upper income tax cuts. I know that some of my colleagues share my concerns, and I look forward to working with them on this issue.
The American people will pay a large price for the tax cuts that generally are for the wealthiest Americans. When fully implemented, the tax cuts will give more tax breaks to the top one percent of taxpayers than to the combined total of the bottom 80 percent. It will be extremely difficult to pay down the public debt, which at the end of FY 2002 was estimated to be $3.6 trillion. It also will be difficult to provide a meaningful Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors, and to adequately fund education and other vital programs and services.
Mr. President, unfortunately, there are those who want to further compound our fiscal crisis by making the tax cuts permanent. Responsible fiscal policy is needed, or possible adverse effects, such as increasing interest rates, may further weaken the economy. Prior to the enactment of the tax cuts, the public debt was expected to be eliminated by 2009. This is no longer true. Future generations of taxpayers will be stuck paying the bill for these current tax cuts, and the picture would look even worse if the cuts are made permanent.
As a former classroom teacher and principal, I would like to say another word about education, which is one of the most important responsibilities we have regarding our children and our nation's future. The No Child Left Behind Act became law in January of this year. This sweeping reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act places before our schools dramatic mandates that they improve student performance or face tough consequences. The FY 2003 budget request, rather than including the funding needed to properly implement changes in the Act, requested the smallest increase in education spending in seven years. Furthermore, the budget request included education cuts of $1.76 billion, which would eliminate 40 programs and cut an additional 16. I am thankful to my colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee for restoring much of this funding. Going forward, we must continue to use fiscal restraint, but we must balance this with the need to invest in critical priorities.
Mr. President, I look forward to working with my colleagues on initiatives to encourage job growth, provide assistance for workers who have lost their jobs, and help alleviate the economic strain that has impacted most Americans. I urge all of my colleagues to add their energies to these efforts. I yield back the balance of my time.
