WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding President Obama’s devastating economic legacy.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

Weak Economic Growth

“According to a recent Gallup poll, people say that the economy is the biggest problem facing this country today. The number two concern of the poll is a tie – between unemployment and dissatisfaction with government.

“After seven and a half years of a very poor recovery from the recession, it is easy to see why Americans are so concerned about their own jobs, their own economy, their own future.

“President Obama took office during a recession. The recession ended in June of 2009 – just a few months after the president was in office. So that was more than seven years ago.

“America has an economy that has been crawling on its hands and knees ever since.

“Normally after a recession, an economy bounces back, does it vigorously, with great strength. Never happened this time.

“Under President Obama, the country has been struggling with the weakest recovery in the last 60 years. Millions and millions of Americans have been left behind and they feel it.

“Going back to 1950, the average annual growth for our economy has been three and a quarter percent a year.

“Through good times and bad, an average of 3 percent or more. President Obama’s average for the past seven years has been less than half of that.

“For the past three economic quarters, it’s been growing at a 1.1 percent annual rate, 0.9 percent, 0.8 percent.

“It’s clear that President Obama is well below average when it comes to his economic policies.

“The non-existent Obama recovery means that too many Americans have gone too long without being able to find a job.

“There are still close to 16 million Americans who are either unemployed or underemployed – who are seeking to find full-time work, many of these are part-time workers who are trying to go and find full-time work.

Out-of-control Debt

“Last month, the Congressional Budget Office came out with some new numbers about Washington’s debt.

“Now the American people know that the president has added considerably to the debt of this country.

“He came into office and he immediately started running deficits of a trillion dollars a year.

“No one had ever seen deficits like that before – and of course each deficit gets added to the debt—the debt accumulates with deficit spending each year.

“That wasn’t enough for this president.

“Then he pushed through the health care law – and burdened taxpayers with trillions of dollars of additional debt.

“According to this new report, Washington’s deficit is going to be 35 percent higher this year than it was last year.

“These failed economic policies of the past seven and a half years don’t just belong to President Obama.

“They belong to Democrats in Congress who have been pushing, and continue to push along this line of more government, more spending, more regulations, less individual choice.

“These are the same ideas that have robbed Americans of opportunities every single time that Democrats have tried them.

“President Obama and the Democrats in Congress may think that the pace of this recovery has been good enough. Republicans in the Senate know that this is an economy which is nowhere near as good as it should be or could be.

“We are focused on policies that promote real job growth – so Americans can get off the sidelines and back onto a career path.

“Republicans are focused on policies that free our economy to grow like it should – not just hobble along with a lackluster pace of the last seven years.

“We’re focused on policies that will rein in Washington’s out-of-control debt and regulations.

“We’re focused on policies that allow Americans to get paid what they deserve. Not just one raise every seven or eight years.

“Republicans are ready to move beyond the president’s legacy of failure, and to help America’s economy really get moving again.”

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