U.S. Senator John Thune says he’s focusing on economic security this election. The incumbent senator faces challenger Jay Williams in November.
Last week Thune made a stop in Rapid City at the Black Hills Forum and Press Club. He says the U.S. economy is not in a good place.
U.S. Senator John Thune says it’s popular to run for office as an anti-Washington candidate, but Congress still passes legislation that hurts business.
The two term senator says the economy under the Obama administration hasn’t grown enough.
Speaking on Friday at the Black Hills Forum and Press Club in Rapid City, Thune says the cost for daily life in the middle class has gone up, while he says wages have stagnated. He says the economy is growing at an anemic rate…
“And if you want to explain why Donald Trump and why Bernie Sanders had a following this year… that’s it,” Thune says. “I mean, the middle class is feeling increasingly squeezed. And there’s this sense that people are being left behind in the economy. And that’s probably one of the biggest reasons. Food costs more, college education costs more, healthcare costs more, wages have gone backwards.”
Thune says to grow the economy means forming policy that creates jobs. He says the laws that pass through congress only make job creation harder. That’s why Thune says he’s looking for more discussion on economic policy than anything else.
“I hope that this election, that the discussion in the fall campaign, is about what are we going to do to turn around the economy in a way that will enable us to get on a path to where we are growing at a more historic and more normal and traditional rate, because higher growth in the economy solves a whole lot of other problems,” Thune says.
Senator John Thune faces Jay Williams in the general election, who is a scheduled guest with the Black Hills Forum and Press Club in the coming months. That group will also feature Congresswoman Kristi Noem and her challenger Paula Hawks.
To hear the full audio of Thune's speech click play below.