WASHINGTON – Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Ranking Member Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) has released the Democratic response to the “Economic Report of the President”. The annual report and the committee’s response are required by statute.

The Democratic portion of the report puts the seven-year recovery in context, demonstrating how it has taken place in the wake of the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. The response also contains a macroeconomic overview, a section on the global economy, a discussion of long-term economic challenges and appropriate policy solutions.

“…The American economy has made tremendous progress as it recovers from the Great Recession,” according to the Democratic response. “A broad range of economic indicators continue to show strong improvement, including private-sector job creation, the unemployment rate and GDP Growth.

“This progress is the result of bold actions taken by the Obama administration, Democrats in Congress and the Federal Reserve to halt the freefall and put the economy back on a path to growth… the government has a key role to play in supporting continued economic recovery and laying the groundwork for future growth.”

The economy, nevertheless, faces a number of long-term structural challenges such as the aging of the labor force, increased globalization, lower productivity growth and rising economic inequality. The report concludes with a discussion of public policies that would help to mitigate these challenges.

 

A full version of the Democratic response may be read here.
A video may be viewed here

 

 

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