Jobs & the Economy
Throughout the 117th Congress, House Democrats have partnered with President Biden to enact policies that expand economic opportunity for businesses, workers, and communities across America. Under President Biden and Congressional Democrats, the unemployment rate is at its lowest in more than 50 years with more than 10 million jobs created, helping more of our people get ahead in today’s economy and Make It In America.
Democrats pursue an economic agenda that helps American businesses create good-paying jobs and ensure that workers have the tools not only to get by but to get ahead in our global economy. From raising the minimum wage to providing skills training and apprenticeship opportunities to ensuring equal pay for equal work, from making childcare more affordable to making it easier to save for retirement, Democrats’ economic policies are aimed at helping workers and their families attain real economic security at every stage of life.
Democrats have also delivered historic legislation investing in infrastructure and greater access to high-speed internet, taking the lead in the clean-energy economy, and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. The generational Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has already begun to expand economic opportunity for Americans in communities across the country and takes action to repair our nation’s roads, bridges, ports, and other infrastructure while creating nearly 1.5 million jobs annually over the next decade. It contains the first major American investment in climate resilience to help communities upgrade their critical infrastructure and mitigate the impact of climate change-driven extreme weather. Likewise, the Inflation Reduction Act also advances America’s clean energy goals, turbocharging clean energy research and transmission while promoting electric vehicle domestic manufacturing to reduce American dependence on gasoline while revitalizing our auto industry.
The CHIPS and Science Act includes bipartisan measures to revitalize the domestic semiconductor industry and spur research. By strengthening domestic supply chains, this law acts directly to accelerate American innovation in the long-term while acting immediately to address inflation and create good paying jobs. House Democrats will continue to champion skills training and education at every level – from early childhood learning through higher education – to prepare our people for success and advancement in a changing economy. In all of these efforts, Democrats will continue to look for ways to make access to opportunities more equitable and to combat the lingering effects of legalized discrimination that continue to make it harder for minorities to access credit for loans, seek investment capital for startups, and build wealth to pass on to the next generation.
With historic job creation under President Biden, House Democrats will continue to advance policies that expand economic opportunity for working families, support small businesses, and create better-paying jobs.
House Republicans have been on recess for 246 days – with no jobs plan and little action taken to help put more Americans back to work. And unfortunately, the schedule they have outlined for the Fall still doesn’t lay out any meaningful action on jobs. Democrats, on the other hand, are committed to taking action on Americans’ top priorities.
All of us have just returned from the summer break and a lot of us didn't get breaks, per se, but we visited with a lot of our people, both in our own districts and throughout the country. It's no surprise that they are very, very concerned about our economy, about jobs, and yes, they continue to be concerned about the fiscal posture of their country. We need to address jobs and fiscal responsibility.
On Labor Day, we celebrate hard-working men and women who have made our country the most productive and prosperous nation in the world. Let us honor American workers’ hard work, innovation, and determination, and also reflect on the struggles they face today. While our economy continues to recover, millions of Americans remain unemployed and are still feeling the effects of the recession.
After 8 months with no jobs plan, House Republicans must be feeling the heat. One week after President Obama’s jobs address, Speaker Boehner plans to deliver remarks on “jobs and economic growth” at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. But we wouldn’t bet on the Speaker actually laying out a jobs plan.
Today, we received word that our economy added 17,000 private-sector jobs in August. This marks the 18th straight month of private sector growth, and a rebound from the days, in early 2009, when we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs per month. Nevertheless, there was no net job growth last month, and today's numbers are deeply disappointing to millions of unemployed Americans, as well as to all those concerned for the future of our economy.
Since taking the House majority, Republicans have said they will make job creation and growing the economy their top priorities. But after eight months, they still do not have a jobs plan. Rather than put forward a plan to help get more Americans back to work, Republicans continue to promote proposals that are more about ideology than job creation.
I welcome the President’s speech before a Joint Session of Congress next week to discuss the critical issues of putting more Americans back to work and getting our fiscal house in order. While Republicans have yet to put forth a comprehensive jobs plan, I look forward to hearing President Obama’s ideas and to working with him to implement the Democrats’ Make It In America plan to revitalize our economy and get more Americans back to work.
THE United States became the world’s largest economy because we invented products and then made them with new processes. With design and fabrication side by side, insights from the factory floor flowed back to the drawing board. Today, our most important task is to restart this virtuous cycle of invention and manufacturing.
Wanted to pass along this op-ed in the Washington Post highlighting how Republicans’ so-called “jobs agenda” isn’t about jobs at all.
Blocking 7 EPA regulations that don’t even exist yet is not a jobs plan. Neither is rolling back critical protections for our air and water. Yet that is exactly what Republicans are proposing.
The $825 billion economic stimulus law signed by President Obama in February 2009 is still having a positive impact on the economy some 30 months later, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.