BY REP. PHIL ROE
Beginning in the fall of 2008, America suffered through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs and their life savings, and the economy was stuck in reverse. In the 10 years since, progress has been made in bringing jobs back, but in the last two years the recovery has finally started to boost confidence in East Tennessee. This is the first time since I can remember that we’ve had more jobs openings than job seekers, and earlier this year we hit a statewide low unemployment rate of 3.3 percent, below the national average. Last week, we learned that the economy grew at 3.5 percent in the third quarter. There’s no denying the roll we are on right now.
In addition to the economy growing at a rate of 3.5 percent, consumer spending grew by 4 percent in the same period accounting for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. In early October, the Council of Economic Advisors announced the national unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, its lowest level since 1969. A thriving economy depends on a strong job market and ours is proving to be on a steady rise. These positive job and economic numbers are helping all Americans. The unemployment rate for Hispanic Americans has fallen to 4.5 percent, the lowest rate ever recorded for this demographic; and the unemployment rate for women has fallen to its lowest rate in nearly 65 years at a 3.6 percent. To put these numbers in perspective, September was the first month since December 2000 that the number of people who are unemployed fell below 6 million. In Tennessee, the number of unemployed persons is 117,359, which is 215,293 less than in June 2009.
As I traveled around the First District in 2016, you could feel it then: businesses and entrepreneurs were ready to expand and take risks, but the regulatory environment was so uncertain it caused many folks to stay on the sidelines. In the following two years, we repealed 14 regulations through the Congressional Review Act and the Trump administration promised to repeal two regulations for every new one created. In fact, the administration repealed 22 regulations for every new one in fiscal year 2017. Improving the regulatory environment was the first step, and the second step was passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law last year, we’ve seen more jobs; a healthier consumer market; better wages; and more opportunities for all Americans. I was proud to vote for this legislation and was pleased to see it signed into law by the president. This was the first meaningful reform we’ve had to our tax code in over three decades, and it has resulted in more opportunities for all Americans.
Our actions have opened doors for more businesses and families all over, and have particularly helped our businesses here in the First District. Small business plays a vital role in our local economy in East Tennessee and businesses now have the flexibility to hire more individuals to continue this growth. I have now seen optimism of job creators and job seekers in the First District, and I know this optimism exists all over the nation with hundreds of thousands of jobs being created in the United States each month.
Make no mistake, there’s still a lot of work to do. We have to permanently extend the tax relief for individuals from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the House voted to do in September. We also need to protect businesses in the future from overregulation, which is why the House passed legislation called the REINS Act to require congressional approval for the adoption of any legislation that would cause over $100 million in economic activity. I plan to continue working with my colleagues on tax and regulatory relief in order to continue helping American families and businesses.
As economic prosperity continues to grow in our state and country, we should continue to advance a legislative agenda that promotes further economic growth. I’m proud of the work we have done in the 115th Congress, which helped put our economy back on track, and I’m hopeful the 116th Congress will do the same.