Democrats Urge Republicans to Work With Democrats on Jobs, Deficit Reduction

This week, the House finally passed a provision of the American Jobs Act that will increase opportunities for our returning veterans to find work. Unfortunately, Republicans only took up this bill after Democrats forced them to by attaching the veterans provision to another bill. I’m pleased that we passed this bill to help put veterans back to work, and I hope in the coming weeks Republicans will work with Democrats on passing the remainder of the American Jobs Act and the Make It In America plan so that we can create jobs and grow our economy.

The House also considered a balanced budget amendment proposed by Republicans. While I support balancing our budget and have fought to restore fiscal discipline, this amendment was not the way to do it. It hurts job creation and makes it more difficult for the country to respond to a crisis. After watching Republicans over the past decade abandon pay-go rules to pay for what we buy, explode deficits, take our country to the brink of a government shutdown, and threaten to default on our nation’s bills, I do not have the confidence that Republicans would allow us to take the necessary actions in the event of an emergency. For all of those reasons, I opposed the amendment.

As we approach the Joint Select Committee's deadline for producing a deficit reduction package, I led a press conference on Wednesday with Democrats and Republicans from both the House and Senate who signed letters urging the Joint Select Committee to “go big” and agree to a big, balanced plan to reduce the deficit. We believe that failure is not an option for the Committee, and continue to urge them to work together on a plan to reduce the deficit, create jobs, strengthen entitlements and ensure all Americans pay their fair share.

I hope you and your family have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Sincerely yours,

STENY H. HOYER

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