[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13] [House] [Pages 18163-18164] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]REPUBLICAN FAILURES ON THE ECONOMY--AMERICA CANNOT AFFORD MORE OF THE SAME (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.) Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, Americans everywhere are feeling the pain of 8 years of Republican economic policies. Since President Bush took office in 2001, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest increase in spending under any President since the Great Depression. Thanks to a tax policy that has overwhelmingly favored the wealthiest 1 percent, President Bush has been forced to borrow more money from foreign nations like China and Japan than all 42 of his predecessors combined. Through their recklessness, the Republicans turned a healthy budget surplus left by President Clinton into one of the most dismal economic records in history. Last week we had another reminder that the Bush economy is not producing any new jobs. In the year 2000, the Clinton economic plan created 1.4 million jobs in the first 8 months of that year. During the same period of this year, President Bush's policies have led to our economy losing over 600,000 jobs. [[Page 18164]] Middle class workers in my State of New Jersey and around the Nation are not only worried about job security, they are concerned about how to get by, when the median household income has fallen by $1,000 since President Bush took office. We must change and turn this around. ____________________