president joe biden seized on thursdays data showing the us economy expanded for the first time this year to claim that the american economic recovery continues to power forward for months doomsayers have been arguing that the us economy is in a recession and congressional republicans have been rooting for a downturn biden said in a statement after data showed gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 26 percent in the third quarter but today we got further evidence that our economic recovery is continuing to power forward the president added