Perdue Touts ‘Economic Turnaround’ at CPAC
Georgia Lawmaker Touts ‘Greatest Economic Turnaround’ Under Trump
Rachel del Guidice
The Daily Signal
A Georgia lawmaker and former business executive says the economy is seeing historic gains under President Donald Trump.
“This is the greatest economic turnaround in U.S. history, 5 million new jobs … we’re growing the economy,” Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., told the Thursday morning crowd of conservatives gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“The Obama administration … by the way, that was eight years [of] the lowest economic growth in U.S. history,” Perdue said.
He said that all Americans, not just some, are seeing the benefits of the Trump economy, especially since the president signed Republican lawmakers’ tax cuts into law on Dec. 22, 2017.
“We’ve got … the lowest unemployment in 50 years, [and the] lowest African-American, Asian, and Hispanic unemployment ever,” Perdue said. “So this is moving in the right direction.”
Perdue spoke during a discussion of the national debt moderated by Tim Chapman, executive director of Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of The Heritage Foundation.
“Taxes were not the government’s money in the first place,” Chapman said at one point. “It was the people’s money in the first place.”
Perdue also touted the success of Republicans’ tax reform package, which Adam Michel, an analyst on tax policy and the federal budget at The Heritage Foundation, says has allowed a typical family of four to get a $2,917 tax cut this year.
Over the next 10 years, due to the growing economy, Michel predicts, an ordinary American “will benefit from over $26,000 more in take-home pay, or $44,697 for a family of four.”
“What we found is, if [we] do the right things and what we believe, we can get good results,” Perdue, former CEO of Dollar General, said. “We passed the historic tax bill … and last year alone, a trillion dollars of our [corporate] inversion gross profits came back into the economy. So collectively, we’ve freed up about $6 trillion to go back into this economy.”
Perdue charged the CPAC crowd to keep their lawmakers honest.
“I believe that we, you and I, can have an impact on this town, but we have got to maintain accountability of the people that we put in office,” he said.
CPAC, the largest annual national gathering of conservative activists, runs through Saturday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington.
David Discusses The National Debt At CPAC
David Discusses North Korea & The $22 Trillion Debt On Fox Business
Year Of The Turnaround
2018 Was The Year Of The Turnaround
By Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)
America is experiencing the greatest economic turnaround in U.S. history. Two weeks after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, I was in a small meeting in the Oval Office to establish the agenda for 2017 and 2018. He said that job one was to grow the economy, and he laid out a plan to focus on regulations, energy, taxes and Dodd-Frank. President Trump’s agenda is working.
When I ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014, I talked about how $6 trillion was not at work in our economy. By rolling back regulations, undoing the most onerous parts of Dodd-Frank and changing the tax code to end the archaic repatriation tax, we’ve begun freeing up that $6 trillion to work in our economy. Look at the results.
More than 4 million new jobs have been created. Middle-class income is the highest it’s ever been. Total unemployment is at a 50-year low. African-American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded. More than 1,500 bureaucrats have been fired at the VA for poor performance. Consumer confidence is at a 20-year high. Small business optimism is at a 35-year high.
President Trump promised to be there for farmers in Georgia and around the country. In December, we got a good Farm Bill across the finish line.
The U.S. Senate has taken action to fill judicial vacancies. Eighty-five federal judges have been confirmed. Nearly one out of every six circuit court judges was nominated by President Trump.
President Trump has been successful in getting European nations to commit to paying more for NATO. We’ve begun rebuilding our military. We are closer to a level playing field for American workers and businesses because of new trade deals with South Korea and Canada and Mexico. We have brought China to the trade table and are working toward zero tariffs with the European Union. We have rebuilt relationships with important allies.
After years of disinvestment, President Trump had to rebuild our military and get our readiness going again. Georgia is playing a major role in this effort. Robins Air Force Base has been named the home of the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System. The Army’s Cyber Command and Cyber School of Excellence continue to build their capability in Augusta. Production of the Columbia Class submarines that are coming soon to Kings Bay has been boosted.
Georgia is also seeing the results of the economic turnaround. Household income in Georgia grew by 4.3 percent in 2017. The population of Georgians living below the poverty line is the lowest it’s been since 2006. Unemployment claims in Georgia fell by 17 percent in 2017 and are the lowest they’ve been in 44 years.
These are the results of policies that boost private sector job creation and grow the economy, not government. Thanks to 16 years of leadership under Govs. Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal, Georgia has been named the best state in the country in which to do business for six straight years. Just as I worked with Gov. Deal, I am already working with Gov.-elect Brian Kemp to ensure Georgia remains the best state in the country in which to do business.
There’s much more work to do. Health care, immigration and infrastructure are at the top of the president’s agenda for this year.
Unfortunately, Democrats have shown they will do whatever it takes to obstruct this president’s agenda, including shutting down the government. Political self-interest cannot continue to come before the national interest. We must break through the gridlock in order to deal with the big issues, including the $21 trillion debt crisis. This year’s economic growth is the first step toward tackling this debt. Now it’s time for action to change Washington’s broken budget process, cut redundant agencies, save Social Security and Medicare, and get after spiraling health care costs. Each of these is critical to dealing with the debt over the long-term.
The results of 2018 are not just Republican talking points. They are American accomplishments, some of which were done with bipartisan support. In 2019, we have to keep up the momentum. At the federal level, the key question in 2019 will be whether House Democrats will work with the president to legislate, or will they yield to political self-interest and only investigate?
Perdue Proposes Overhaul of Washington’s Funding Process
Sen. Perdue pushing overhaul of federal appropriations process
By Dave Williams, Atlanta Business Chronicle
November 27, 2018
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and two of his Republican colleagues are calling on Congress to reform the appropriations process to make sure the federal government is funded on time.
Perdue and GOP Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Joni Ernst of Iowa are introducing a plan to create specific deadlines for passing annual budget and appropriations bills. The proposal will be taken up by a bicameral, bipartisan committee formed last February to review the process and recommend changes.
“Washington is locked in a cycle of continuing resolutions and last-minute spending deals,” Perdue said. “To be successful, this joint select committee must create a politically neutral platform with specific milestones for completing funding and impose severe consequences if members of Congress don’t get the job done.”
Lawmakers returned to Washington this week for a two-week lame-duck session needing to reach a funding agreement with the White House by Dec. 7 or face a partial government shutdown. The key sticking point is President Donald Trump’s request for $5 billion for a border wall.
The 16-member Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, which includes Perdue, has until the end of the year to agree on changes to the process and present them to the full Congress for a vote.
Washington’s Funding Process Is Totally Broken
David Perdue Slams ‘Unacceptable’ Short-Term Spending Bill
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) slammed the Senate’s “unacceptable” short-term continuing resolution (CR) on Tuesday. The CR would prevent President Donald Trump’s potential shutdown threat over partial border wall funding.
The Senate passed the continuing resolution with a vote tally of 93-7. Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rand Paul (R-KY), David Perdue (R-GA), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to vote against the $854 billion spending bill.
Sen. Perdue chided the CR in a statement on Tuesday, saying:
Here we go again. In typical Washington fashion, Congress has once again fallen short of completing its Constitutional responsibility. We had the opportunity to fully fund the government on time for the first time in 22 years. Congress has used over 180 continuing resolutions instead of getting it all done. We are going to walk past the deadline on September 30th and fall into the same trap. This is unacceptable.
Read more in Breitbart.
Sen. David Perdue & Jenny Beth Martin: Make Congress Work Again
“I say to Congress: I will never sign another bill like this again.”
President Trump made this crystal clear following the massive, last-minute funding bill in March, and he is serious. However, Congress has not gotten the message.
Several weeks have passed since the president issued this warning, and Washington is still spiraling towards another 11th-hour spending battle. We can see it clear as day, but many career politicians cannot.
Action must be taken immediately to overcome the following obstacles.
First, obstruction. Senate Democrats are waging an historic campaign to keep Trump from getting his full team in place. It takes an average of 82 days for one of Trump’s nominees to be confirmed. At this rate, he will not have his full team in place before the end of his first term. There are more than 250 nominees waiting to be confirmed today.
Most of Trump’s nominees are ultimately confirmed with bipartisan support, so this is not about real controversy or debate. Democrats are doing this to create a backlog and waste time to keep the Senate from focusing on Trump’s agenda.
Second, time. Twelve funding bills are required to fund the federal government. Congress has not even passed one yet this year. The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. The Senate has just 62 working days between now and then. There are just 37 working days if you exclude Mondays and Fridays, and that is the norm in Congress.
Time is running out. If Congress does not act now, the obstruction will continue and Washington will continue the cycle of continuing resolutions to keep the lights on, while a handful of politicians get in a room and decide how to spend another trillion dollars.
This should not happen, and we can make sure it doesn’t.
Read more in The Washington Examiner.
Our Opportunity To Change Washington’s Broken Budget Process
The current budget process used by Congress will never work. Enacted in 1974, it was only worked the way it was intended four times in the past 44 years. As a result, our national debt has surpassed $20 trillion and is on track to grow another $10 trillion in the next decade.
Changing this failed budget process will not solve the national debt crisis, but we will not solve the debt crisis until we change the broken budget process. The plan the United States Senate passed today finally takes a real step towards doing so by establishing a committee that will work to change the budget process. This is our opportunity to finally get this done.
I’ve called for changing this broken budget process for years, and I’m not alone. Republicans and Democrats agree:
Senator Steve Daines (R-MT): “The biggest hurdle to balancing the budget are the very rules, the very process that guides this institution. They are broken…We came here not to accept the status quo but to reject it, and to change the way this country operates truly to save the future of our kids and our grandkids.”
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD): “We have to begin the process of fixing this broken [budget] system and we need to begin now. In 2026, our country turns 250 years old. Wouldn’t it be a marvelous goal if by that time we not only had this process fixed, but it was actually working once again?”
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA): “We can’t keep spending money we don’t have on things that aren’t necessary. Washington can’t even do the basic business of balancing our own budget…It might just take a complete overhaul of Washington’s ways to help us solve this problem.”
Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE): “Washington’s budget process is broken and everyone in Nebraska knows it. This has to change or there’s always going to be another cliff, another countdown, and another Washington-driven crisis.”
Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA): “Congress should also pass a fiscally responsible budget with a number of important reforms to the disastrous budget process.”
Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK): “A lot of us ran for office – a lot of us for the first time – because we saw what is going on with this budget process…We have all been working on this for months this is what we need to do to finally get ahold of these enormous budget challenges. I want to encourage all of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, to join in this process to bring your ideas to fix what is clearly a broken process.”
Senator John Thune (R-SD): “Congress has the constitutional responsibility to fund the government, and when it comes to the current congressional budget process, I’m not a fan. It’s broken, and it needs to be reformed.”
Senator Bob Corker (R-TN): “We really don’t have a budget process. I mean to even call what we do a budget, per most human beings’ understanding of what a budget is, is obviously not realistic…We have to, in essence, get a process in place that actually works. It’s impossible for the process we have today to work. Today, is a perfect example of that, right?”
Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY): “I don’t get invited many places to speak because I talk about the budget process and it depresses people. But it’s about time that we got depressed over the budget and got some changes.”
Senator James Lankford (R-OK): “The budget process is out of control and must be dramatically reformed. Agencies cannot plan, business leaders cannot forecast expenses for the next year and the economy is grinding to a halt. To achieve a better budget product, we must have a better budget process.”
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “Only four times in the past 43 years has this budget process actually funded the federal government. Finding common ground to develop a real budget should be a bipartisan effort, and that’s why we’re fighting to fix it.”
Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA): “It’s clear that Congress’ current budgeting and appropriations process is broken.”
Senator Angus King (I-ME): “For 20 years, Congress hasn’t had a budget on time. Instead, we’ve opted to kick difficult decisions a little bit further down the road through continuing resolutions, leaving important priorities unfinished.”
Senator Gary Peters (D-MI): “Our broken budget process needlessly shortchanges the effectiveness of federal programs through a never-ending cycle of short-term continuing resolutions and omnibus spending bills that create budget crises and keep the Government perpetually at the edge of a shutdown.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): “Going from C.R. to C.R… results in wasteful spending at the Defense Department and has negative consequences for our defense.”
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH): “We cannot continue limping along from one budget to the next – that’s no way to run our government.”
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT): “Enough is enough. We cannot continue to run a $4 trillion government on a month to month basis.”
Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD): “Our concern is we need a budget for the country. We are now four months into the fiscal year and we’ve been told by [government agencies] they cannot continue working with continuing resolutions, they have to have a budget in order for our country to function and there was no end in sight.”
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA): “Our current budget process is broken. Time and time again Congress resorts to passing continuing resolutions and omnibus bills at the last minute instead of properly examining and debating our federal spending.”