SCHAKOWSKY TO CHENEY: YOU CAN TRY TO TALK UP THE ECONOMY, BUT CHICAGOANS KNOW EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES

Press Release

June 23, 2006

SCHAKOWSKY TO CHENEY: YOU CAN TRY TO TALK UP THE ECONOMY, BUT CHICAGOANS KNOW EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES

CHICAGO, IL -- U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky released the following statement today in anticipation of Vice President Cheney's speech on the economy Friday before the Chicago Mercantile Exchange:

"Today, Vice President Cheney will try to convince Chicagoans that the economy is on the right track. But, like most Americans who have seen their wages remain stagnant, Chicagoans know better. They know that the only beneficiaries of the Bush-Cheney economy are the wealthiest buddies and corporate cronies of the Administration who have seen their incomes soar while being lavished with one tax cut after another."

"Most Americans are struggling to pay the rising cost of health care, college tuition, heating costs, and gas prices while their wages fail to keep up. Instead of voting to raise the minimum wage this week, Republicans voted in favor of nearly eliminating the estate tax for a very few super-rich Americans like Paris Hilton. If the minimum wage had risen at the same rate as CEO compensation, it would now be $25.00 rather than a pitiful $5.15 an hour -- far from livable."

"It is remarkable to me that this Administration would dare to even try to wear the jacket of fiscal responsibility while accumulating a debt of nearly $9 trillion, $30,000 per man, woman and child in our country, spending over $11 million every hour in Iraq, and continuing to give oil companies and billionaires huge tax breaks. The Vice President can try to talk up the economy, but no-nonsense Chicagoans know the Emperor has no clothes."