Vice President Mike Pence firmly refuted former President Barack Obama’s claim that the nation’s currently booming economy began on his watch. “I don’t know if you heard about it, but our last president has been giving speeches around the country taking credit for this economic growth,” Pence said to a laughing crowd.
Pence addressed Obama directly saying, “This economy isn’t booming because of your policies, it’s booming because we’ve been rolling back the failed policies of your administration.”
Early in his remarks to the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington on Saturday, Pence rattled off indices of economic progress achieved under the Trump administration.
They included over 4 million jobs created since President Donald Trump took office, jobless claims at the lowest they have been in 50 years, and record low unemployment for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.
Pence further noted that wages are rising at their fastest pace in almost a decade, and middle-class incomes have reached the highest level ever recorded in the country.
“The truth is the last administration stifled our economy under an avalanche of red tape,” Pence said. “This president has actually signed more bills rolling back federal red tape than any president in American history. …
“While the last administration raised taxes on the American people, this president and this Congress passed the largest tax cuts in American history. That’s promises made and promises kept.”
As Reported By The Washington Examiner:
Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett said that, while it’s not fair to blame Obama for the Great Recession, several of Obama’s policies stunted growth.
“I think the Affordable Care Act … lifted marginal tax rates on individual workers, so much so that the CBO even said that it would have a negative effect on growth,” Hassett told reporters at the White House, referring to the Congressional Budget Office.