Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Top Moody’s Economist Mark Zandi’s New Report That Concludes That Passing Both The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework And The Reconciliation Bill Is Essential For Our Economy
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding economist Mark Zandi’s new report that concluded that the two bills will “lift productivity and labor force growth” and “address the long running skewing of the income and wealth distribution.” Mr. Zandi also concluded that Republicans’ stated concerns about inflation are “misplaced” and “overdone”. You can view the report here. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
If Senators had any doubt about the impact of this important work, they should be assured by a new report this morning by the chief economist at Moody’s, Mark Zandi.
Having analyzed both the bipartisan bill and the agreement by Senate Democrats on the Budget Committee, Mark Zandi concludes that the twin legislative packages will provide a massive boost to the economy and that both, both are essential.
Specifically, his report says that the two bills are “designed to lift the economy’s longer-term growth potentials and ease inflation pressures.”
Again, despite the sometimes hysterical warnings about inflation from Republicans, the chief economist at Moody’s concludes that those concerns are “misplaced,” “overdone,” and that our two infrastructure bills are designed to “ease”— his words—inflation pressures.
The report goes on to say that our investments in infrastructure and social programs will “lift productivity and labor force growth…and direct the benefits of the stronger growth to lower income Americans and address the long running skewing of the income and wealth distribution.”
In other words, it will help strengthen the middle class and those trying to get there, and not have all the income—so much of the income—disproportionately flow to the top 1 and 10 percent.
I hope my colleagues are listening to those benefits. Long-term economic growth. Easing inflation pressures. Lifting productivity. Strengthening the labor force. Reducing income inequality. That’s what one of the nation’s leading economists predicts our two infrastructure bills will achieve.
The report by Moody’s should light a fire under all of us. I will be sending the full report to the Senate Democratic conference and I commend it to my Republican colleagues to read as well.
It has been decades since this chamber has made a significant, stand-alone investment in our nation’s infrastructure. We are the largest economy in the world, but our infrastructure ranks 13th. You’d find better infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates than the United States.
Meanwhile, middle-class and working Americans have watched the American dream fall out of reach, as globalization, technology, and vicious inequalities of income have sapped much of America’s fundamental promise of economic opportunity.
We must restore that promise, that hope, that American dream. If we want Americans to prosper in the 21st century—if we want to restore that fundamental promise—we need to invest in our infrastructure, create jobs, support families, strengthen the backbone of the middle class, help underserved communities, and rekindle the sunny optimism that has been a hallmark of the American spirit for more than two centuries.
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