The Census Bureau recently reported that median household incomes in the United States grew by 5.2 percent last year. That’s the single largest annual income gain ever recorded. Every major income bracket in our country saw an increase in earnings, with the lowest 10th percentile seeing the biggest gains. This is real progress for all Americans.

This is the kind of wage growth we can all celebrate. For the first time since 1999, our country is moving in the right direction on income, health care coverage, and poverty indicators. Household incomes are rising and the poverty rate is falling. We are finally regaining the ground we lost during the great recession, which hit in 2008.

In 2015, the official poverty rate dropped more than a full percentage point. That means almost 2 million Americans were lifted out of poverty. The economy is clearly working President Obama’s leadership and Democrats’ focus on the middle class.

These new facts also contradict the false narrative against the Affordable Care Act. Because of Obamacare, more Americans have health insurance than ever before in this nation’s history. According to the Census Bureau, the uninsured rate has plummeted in almost every state.

California saw the biggest drop, with a decline of 8.6 percentage points in its uninsured rate. Nevada was second with 8.4 percentage point drop. Our country has emerged from the recession. We are seeing record wage growth. We are making a great nation even greater. Sadly, we don’t hear about the successes as much as we should. But as this census data shows, we have moved our country forward. But to be clear, we still have much work to do.

We need to do more for the middle class, more to give Americans a livable wage, and more to ease the burden of student loan debt.

Both parties must come together to build on this progress. Let’s take this opportunity to put aside partisanship and get to work for the American people.

Contact Harry Reid at http://reid.senate.gov/