My favorite nickname for America is “Land of Opportunity.” A place where everyone: man or woman, black, brown, or white has a real chance to succeed.
After the financial crisis in 2008, it seemed that opportunity for many had slipped away. Obama/Biden “progressive” policies of higher taxes, more regulation and massive government programs smothered what should have been a dramatic recovery. In fact, the recovery under Obama/Biden was the weakest in modern history, taking over six years to recover market losses and lost employment. Six years of lost jobs, lost opportunity and suffering for millions of Americans.
In the last years of the Obama-Biden administration, Americans began to believe that we were no longer the land of opportunity. In fact, two-thirds of Americans believed their kids would have less opportunity than they had.
That is why I ran for Congress. The nameplate on my desk says, “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.” I wanted to bring back opportunity for our children and our grandchildren.
When Donald Trump was elected, he and congressional Republicans immediately went to work. Republican priorities of lower taxes, less regulation and fair trade quickly ignited our economy to historic levels.
Only six months ago, the unemployment rate was at a 50-year low, nearly 2.5 million Americans, including 1.4 million children, had been lifted out of poverty and for 18 consecutive months, there were wage gains above 3 percent. Last year was the first time in 51 years drug prices went down.
It’s the economy that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had promised but stamped out. Donald Trump promised too, but unlike Obama and Biden, President Trump has delivered. This economy was for everyone. Ordinary people were being lifted from poverty, even in the poorest areas in South Carolina. Places like Marion, Dillon and Marlboro were seeing unemployment at historic lows and rising wages.
Then came COVID.
As opposed to Obama-Biden, President Trump has worked with Congress, not to smother, but to stimulate the economy. With the CARES Act and Republican pro-growth policies already in place under the leadership of the president, the economy is quickly recovering, despite the ongoing pandemic.
The stock market has recovered all of its losses, making it the shortest bear market in history. The unemployment rate is already down five percent, from 15 percent to 10 percent, after only 6 months, a feat that took six years under the Obama-Biden administration.
The housing market is booming.
I want to return, as quickly and safely as possible, to the good ole days of six months ago.
Those days where unemployment was down, wages were rising, businesses were searching for workers and people of every stripe were being lifted from poverty and despair.
So, what do you want? To me, the choice is pretty clear. Joe Biden has proven to you that despite his talk, his, “progressive” policies will smother the economy. When President Donald Trump talks prosperity, he delivers.
Give President Donald Trump four more years. Give us a Republican Congress to take that gavel from Nancy Pelosi. We will show you what a land of opportunity looks like.
Congressman Tom Rice represents South Carolina’s Seventh District in the House of Representatives.