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.
While we’re all focused on talks to ensure America pays its bills and we reduce the deficit, this NY Times article caught our attention. Hypocrisy is alive and well among House Republicans:
Now that House Republicans have taken a symbolic vote on their radically ideological “Cut, Cap and End Medicare” bill, perhaps they will listen to the majority of Americans who support a big, balanced agreement and work with Democrats on a compromise that includes both revenues and spending cuts to ensure we pay America’s bills and reduce the deficit.
The American public is rightfully very distressed with the Congress of the United States. They’re distressed that a time of great challenge and great risk, we fiddle while the debt threatens to burn us, to place our country in the position of being judged un-creditworthy. That is not worthy of this Congress, or any one of us who serves in this Congress. We have 14 days, according to the Secretary of the Treasury, until such time as America will be unable to pay its obligations. That is not a situation that will be looked at positively by the financial sector, or by any one of our constituents whose ability to save, to have a 401-k that is stable, to purchase an automobile or a refrigerator, or to send their kid to college will be put at risk because of increased interest rates. Not one of us will be held harmless if this Congress fails to do its duty.
The American public is rightfully very distressed with the Congress of the United States. They’re distressed that a time of great challenge and great risk, we fiddle while the debt threatens to burn us, to place our country in the position of being judged un-creditworthy. That is not worthy of this Congress, or any one of us who serves in this Congress. We have 14 days, according to the Secretary of the Treasury, until such time as America will be unable to pay its obligations. That is not a situation that will be looked at positively by the financial sector, or by any one of our constituents whose ability to save, to have a 401-k that is stable, to purchase an automobile or a refrigerator, or to send their kid to college will be put at risk because of increased interest rates. Not one of us will be held harmless if this Congress fails to do its duty.
Wanted to make sure you all saw this White House blog post on Republicans’ “Cut, Cap and End Medicare” bill, an extreme proposal that increases our chances of default and makes the same drastic cuts as the Republican budget, which ends Medicare and drastically cuts Medicaid, while preserving tax breaks for the wealthy. Democrats continue to urge Republicans to work with us so that we can enact a large agreement to reduce the deficit and ensure America pays its bills.
Today, Republicans are wasting time on their “Cut, Cap and End Medicare” bill, bringing it to the House Floor for a symbolic vote, despite the fact that it is expected to fail in the Senate and the President will veto it. While Democrats are calling on Republicans to act quickly to enact a large agreement to reduce the deficit and ensure America pays its bills, Republicans are pressing forward with an extreme proposal that increases our chances of default and is the Republican budget all over again: it ends Medicare and drastically cuts Medicaid, while preserving tax breaks for the wealthy.
I welcome President Obama’s nomination of Richard Cordray as the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As Attorney General of Ohio and the head of the Bureau’s enforcement arm, Richard Cordray has built a strong record of standing up for the middle class. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created to bring fairness to the financial services on which millions of Americans rely, and to prevent a recurrence of a financial crisis caused by Wall Street recklessness and lax regulation.
This afternoon, Fitch Ratings announced it will place the U.S. credit rating in “ratings watch negative,” which could lead to a credit rating downgrade if America fails to pay its bills.
We here in the Democratic Whip Press shop will give Republicans credit for their transparency. They are not even trying to hide the fact that their “Cut, Cap and End Medicare” bill would end the program’s guarantee.