Hoyer: House Republicans Tell the American People “You’re On Your Own”

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks at a press conference today with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn to discuss House Republicans' inaction on critical issues facing the American people after Republicans announced they’re leaving Washington early. Below is a transcript of his remarks:

“Yesterday was one of the few times this Congress or the last Congress considered something on a bipartisan basis to do something for our country. That was the good news. The bad news is for almost all the time we have spent in this Congress, it has been simply on partisan messaging bills offered by the [Republican] Majority. Americans expect more and deserve more from their Congress. Surely, I don't think the American people want a repeat of the 112th and 113th Congress. They know that their Congress, their Board of Directors, needs to be focused on jobs. We call it Make It In America. We call it investing in infrastructure, investing in education, investment in the creation of jobs, giving certainty – as the [Democratic] Leader has said – to the economy so it can grow even more than it has grown.  And it's extraordinary that we've had this success, given the uncertainty that our Republican colleagues have created almost every day of the [113th] Congress.

“Yesterday, for instance, we created uncertainty. The Export-Import Bank, which makes us competitive, we should have given a long-term life so that lenders and job creators would have had the confidence to proceed to build jobs here in America. We've urged the Make It In America agenda to be brought to the Floor. It has not been. We saw the shutdown of government, which undermined the confidence, undermined the economy. We saw the threatening of the debt limit of the United States of America, the greatest country on the face of the Earth, undermining confidence.

“Surely, we believe the American public wants a Board of Directors, a Congress of the United States, that works for them, doesn't tell them ‘you're on your own,’ doesn't tell them when they're not making enough and they need a new minimum wage that hasn't been raised for years and years and is about 40% less purchasing power than it was in 1968. What does the Republican Congress say? ‘You're on your own.’ And when people lost their jobs and couldn't get their unemployment insurance, the Republican Congress said, ‘you're on your own.’ And when Sandy hit the Atlantic Coast, what did the Republicans say to those devastated by this natural disaster – businesses, individuals, homeowners, families – ‘you're on your own.’ What do they say to women who are being battered, and we tried to pass the Violence Against Women Act? It waited for eight months while the Republicans told those women and family members: ‘you're on your own.’

“Today is the perfect example of the unseriousness of this Republican leadership in the House. We were supposed to be session tomorrow. Supposedly, to consider jobs bills, but we're not going to be in session tomorrow. We're considering that ‘jobs bill’ in a very, very narrow sense, and it's not a jobs bill at all. And in fact, what it will do is create over a half a trillion dollars in additional deficit. And we're going to do it without any kind of thoughtful consideration. And by the way, what we're doing today is simply a re-run of what we did yesterday: messaging.

“So I think the American people have an opportunity to get a Congress, to get a Board of Directors that works for them, that is on their side, that will focus on jobs, Make It In America, investment in them and their children, making sure people are treated equally, and – as the [Democratic] Leader has said – that we pay women for doing the same job the same that we pay men. That we provide child care service and that it's affordable for people so that they can work and support themselves and their family. And, lastly, invest in education. That we don't continue to pursue what I call 'Ryan's Retreat,' a budget that disinvests in economic growth, disinvests in infrastructure, and disinvests in education.

“The people are going to have an opportunity in just a few days to make a choice on whether they want a Board of Directors that says to them ‘you're on your own’ or a Board of Directors that says ‘we're on your side and we're going to invest in a better future for you and your family.’”