Senator warns recession may get worse

While the Obama administration and members of Congress have asserted the economy may recovering, one senator warned Tuesday that further declines may be on the way.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said that the is no consensus that the economy has begun to recover, and spoke of a potential “double bottom” in which the recession would again deepen before the economy recovers.

“Although some say the economy has bottomed out…there are a number of other economists who say we are going to have a ‘double bottom,’ and that we’re just at a temporary leveling off — that we will see further declines,” Crapo told Idaho reporters in a news conference today.

“So there’s still not a consensus that we actually have seen the economy begin the last upward healing process,” Crapo added.

The president and his administration have claimed “green shoots” of recovery in the economy. President Obama used his weekly radio address last week to assert that a better-than-expected quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) report showed his economic policies were working.

Crapo expressed skepticism about those claims, asserting that any recovery in the economy at this point certainly wouldn’t be due to Obama’s economic policies.

“Whatever impact is causing the economy to stabilize — if it is stabilizing — is almost certainly not as a result of the stimulus package,” Crapo said.