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Biden: Middle Class Not Feeling Economic Revival


FILE - Vice President Joe Biden speaking during a visit at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, Sept. 3, 2014.
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden speaking during a visit at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, Sept. 3, 2014.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says there have been 54 straight months of job creation; the longest streak of uninterrupted job growth in U.S. history.

In the weekly White House address, Biden said the job growth is great news but "an awful lot of middle class Americans" are still not feeling the effects of the recovery.

Biden said since the year 2000, the Gross Domestic Product has risen by 24 percent and productivity has risen by 30 percent. However, the vice president said middle class wages during that same time period have gone up by only 14 cents.

He said "it's long past time to cut the middle class back into the deal" so they can benefit from the economic growth they helped create. The vice president called for a change in the tax code, and to close tax loopholes to help reduce the deficit.

The Republican candidate for Senate in Alaska, Dan Sullivan, said in his party's address the federal government is an obstacle to progress in his state and called that a national problem, too.

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