Just the Facts: House Republicans' Failed Record on Job Creation and Economic Opportunity

As we move toward the end of the 113th Congress, here’s a look back at House Republicans’ failed record when it comes to addressing job creation and supporting economic growth, despite their promises to make both issues top priorities. Instead of tackling these issues, Republicans have wasted time and taxpayer dollars on partisan messaging bills that don’t create jobs and have no chance of being signed into law.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS SAY JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY IS A TOP PRIORITY…

When House Republicans took the Majority, they claimed that job creation would be their top priority:

GOP Pledge to America: “A plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America more competitive must be the first and most urgent domestic priority of our government.” [GOP Pledge to America, 9/23/10]

Speaker Boehner:“We are humbled by the trust that the American people have placed in us and we recognize this is a time for us to roll up our sleeves and go to work on the people's priorities: creating jobs, cutting spending and reforming the way Congress does its business.  It's not just what the American people are demanding -- it's what they are expecting from us.  And the real question now is this: Are we going to listen to the American people? Republicans have made a pledge to America, and our pledge is to listen to the American people and to focus on their priorities, and that's exactly what we're going to do.” [Los Angeles Times, 11/3/10]

Majority Leader McCarthy:  “House Republicans’ number one priority is creating an environment that promotes economic growth and job creation.” [Press Release, 12/13/11]

And House Republicans have continued to claim that job creation is their top priority:

Speaker Boehner: “‘The Republican-led House,’ Boehner said, ‘is going to spend September focused on American solutions to help get people back to work, lower costs at home and restore opportunity for all Americans.’” [Roll Call, 9/3/14]

Majority Leader McCarthy now:  “My House colleagues and I will work to ensure that Washington empowers Americans by restoring the promise of the American Dream.” [Washington Post, 07/31/14]

…BUT HOUSE REPUBLICANS VOTE AGAINST JOB CREATION

Despite their rhetoric of wanting to take action to spur job creation and expand opportunity for more Americans, House Republicans have voted against bills that would promote private sector hiring and expand economic opportunities, including the following legislation that would support job growth, raise the minimum wage, restore emergency unemployment insurance, and ensure women receive equal pay for equal work:

• Bring Jobs Home Act (H.R. 851): Eliminates tax deductions for the moving expenses of companies that send jobs overseas and provides a new tax credit for those companies that bring jobs back to the U.S. [7/30/14,  9/18/13]
• Make It In America Manufacturing Act of 2013 (H.R. 375): Establishes a competitive incentive grant program that will promote public-private partnerships and encourage an approach to enhancing the manufacturing industry that is driven by stakeholders at the regional, state, and local levels. [10/29/13]
• Invest in American Jobs Act (H.R. 949): Strengthens existing Buy America requirements for federally funded highway, bridge, public transit, rail, and aviation projects to ensure that all of the steel, iron, and manufactured goods they used is produced in the United States. [7/17/13]
• Security in Energy and Manufacturing Act (H.R. 1424): Extends and expands a tax credit to equip, expand, or establish manufacturing facilities in the U.S. that manufacture advanced energy products. [5/16/13]
• Put America Back to Work Act (H.R. 535): Permanently extends the Build America Bonds program to help states and local governments leverage private capital to create job and build new infrastructure to support future economic growth. [4/24/13]
• Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 377): Ensures equal pay for equal work by prohibiting sex discrimination in the payment of wages. [7/30/14, 4/8/14]
• Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act (H.R. 3546): Extends emergency unemployment assistance to people who lost their jobs on or before January 1, 2015. [3/6/14, 3/5/14]
• Emergency Unemployment Compensation (H.R. 3936): Extends emergency unemployment assistance for people who lost their jobs on or before July 1, 2014. [1/28/14]
• Emergency Unemployment Compensation (H.R. 4415): Extends emergency unemployment assistance for people who lost their jobs on or before June 1, 2014. [5/7/14, 4/8/14]
• Unemployment Insurance (H.R. 3824): Extends emergency unemployment compensation to people who lost their jobs on or before April 1, 2014. [1/15/14]
• Fair Minimum Wage Act (H.R. 1010): Increases the federal minimum wage for employees to $10.10 an hour. [7/30/14, 4/29/14, 4/4/14, 4/2/14, 2/27/14, 2/26/14]

HOUSE REPUBLICANS WASTE TIME ON PARTISAN MESSAGING

Instead of taking action to address job creation and economic opportunity, House Republicans have instead wasted time and taxpayer dollars on political messaging bills and political lawsuits:

• Voted to authorize a $350,000 lawsuit against President Obama, which includes a no-bid contract to hire attorney David Rivkin at a rate of $500 per hour in taxpayer funds, despite the majority of Americans thinking the lawsuit is a “political stunt.” [The Hill, 7/14/14]
• Held over 50 votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, even though 78% of the newly insured were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their new insurance, including 74% of Republicans. [New York Times, 7/10/14]
• Requested $3.3 million for a select committee on Benghazi, a budget larger than that of the House Veterans Affairs Committee or the House Ethics Committee. [USA Today, 7/7/14]

HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ “JOBS” BILLS DON’T CREATE JOBS

And while Republicans claim they’ve sent jobs bills to the Senate, a look at those bills shows they actually do nothing to create jobs:

• H.Con.Res. 96, House Republicans’ Harmful, Partisan Budget:  The Republican budget would destroy 3 million jobs and decrease economic growth by 2.5 percentage points in 2016.It also ends Medicare as we know it, block grants Medicaid, and repeals the Affordable Care Act while providing tax cuts for the wealthy. [The Economic Policy Institute Blog, 4/1/14]
• H.R. 2575, Sabotage American Workers Act: This legislation would reduce the number of people receiving employment-based coverage by about one million people, increase the number of uninsured by up to 500,000, and increase the federal deficit by $74 billion.  [Congressional Budget Office, 2/25/14]
• H.R. 1406, Pay Working Families Less Act: This legislation allows employers to substitute their workers’ overtime pay with comp time, making it so employees won’t get paid for time worked over 40 hours per week while doing nothing to address job creation.
• H.R. 1613, Special Interest Bill for Big Oil: This legislation includes a special-interest provision that allows Big Oil companies to refrain from disclosing payments they make to foreign governments for the rights to access oil and gas resources while doing nothing to address job creation.
• H.R. 2728, Special Interest Bill for Big Oil and Gas Industry: This legislation blocks federal supervision of hydraulic fracking for oil or gas on federal lands and gives control over oil and gas production on such lands to the states, even if it results in weak management.
• H.R. 761, Special Interest Bill for the Mining Industry: This legislation benefits the mining industry and significantly reduces or removes proper environmental reviews, undermining environmental protections and doing nothing to address job creation.
• H.R. 3826, Special Interest Bill for the Coal Industry: This legislation puts our health, economy, and environment at risk by blocking federal efforts to reduce carbon pollution, but does nothing to address job creation.
• H.R. 4438, An Unpaid-for Tax Credit: This bill adds $156 billion to the deficit by making the unpaid-for research and development tax credit permanent. It is part of a 14-bill package of permanent, unpaid-for tax cuts that would add a total of $800 billion to the deficit over ten years and does not seriously address job creation.

AMERICAN PEOPLE DISAGREE WITH REPUBLICAN INACTION

Polls show that the American people want action on legislation that would support job growth and expand access to economic opportunity:

• “Seventy-one percent of people surveyed favor a hike in the federal minimum wage,” including 54% of Republicans. [CNN-Money, 6/9/14]
• Seventy-four percent of people support “government efforts to address male-female income disparity in the United States.” [Politico, May 2014]
• “Seventy-two percent of likely voters are ‘worried the most’ or ‘a great deal’ about the loss of manufacturing jobs… By a 2-1 margin, voters favor a focus on job creation over deficit reduction. Support for job creation has increased by 5 percentage points among all voters since 2012 (rising from 60% to 65%).” [Alliance for American Manufacturing, January 2014]
• “A plurality of Americans believes that causing political problems for President Obama is now the GOP's top priority in Washington... Meanwhile, as polls still consistently show that creating jobs remains task one for most Americans.” [National Journal, 10/1/13]

HOUSE DEMOCRATS’ CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

Unlike Republicans, House Democrats have remained focused on jobs, economic growth, and expanding opportunity for all Americans. In July, House Democrats revealed their new economic agenda, Middle Class Jumpstart, which, unlike House Republicans’ flawed priorities, would put the middle class first. The Middle Class Jumpstart agenda is centered around three pillars:

• ‘Make It In America’ – Better Jobs at Home
• When Women Succeed, America Succeeds
• Affordable Education to Keep America #1

As part of the Middle Class Jumpstart agenda, House Democrats continue to promote the Make It In America jobs plan, geared at strengthening American manufacturing and bringing jobs back to the U.S. through four priority areas:

• Adopt and pursue a national manufacturing strategy
• Promote the export of U.S. goods
• Encourage businesses to bring jobs and innovation back to the U.S.
• Train and secure a twenty-first century workforce

In June, over 20 new bills were added to the plan, and in July, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act became the eleventh Make It In America bill to become law.

 As we wrap up the 113th Congress, it is clear House Republicans’ pledge to focus on jobs was nothing but empty rhetoric. Unlike Republicans, Democrats are focused on job creation and expanding opportunities to jump-start the middle class and ensure that all families can make it in America.

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