Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN), Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, upon the filing the Committee's annual Joint Economic Report for 2015, said the President's 'Middle Class Economics' "would do very little to promote the middle class without causing greater harm to the economy and would further delay the fiscal realities that must be addressed in the federal budget." 

The Economic Report of the President (ERP) is an annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers that overviews the nation's economic progress. By law, the Joint Economic Committee is required to issue a response to this report.

Findings in the 2015 Joint Economic Report suggest the ERP ignores several important economic realities, among them:

• The growth gap between this recovery and average post-1960 recoveries will continue in the near future;
• Many of the subsidies and regulations that have been put in place or extended since the recent recession will continue to affect labor participation;
• Increased productivity and participation alone cannot grow the United States out of the dire fiscal circumstances we’re in after the recent recession, and these challenges will only increase in the coming years as spending obligations on health care and retirees engulf the budget;
• Action to address the unsustainable growth of mandatory spending programs need to happen now to ensure their continue vitality for current and future generations; and
• Opportunities to improve GDP growth are available now if only the Administration would unleash additional energy production opportunities, and additionally, if the Administration would work with Congress to secure Trade Promotion Authority to finalize new trade agreements.

See the entire JEC Annual Joint Economic Report attached below: