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.
In 1998, as a Republican Congress was struggling to compromise with a Democratic president on a budget bill, a Member of the House rose to speak to what he called ‘the Perfectionist Caucus’—those Members who stood against compromise under any circumstances. Here’s what he said: ‘Now, my fine friends who are perfectionists, each in their own world, where they are petty dictators, could write a perfect bill….It would be about 2,200 of their particular projects and their particular interests and their particular goodies taking care of their particular states. But that is not the way life works in a free society….In a free society, where we are sharing power between the legislative and executive branch, [compromise] is precisely the outcome we should expect to get.
I applaud President Obama for announcing an ambitious goal of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is an economic imperative—and a national security imperative. The continuing unrest in the Middle East and the rise of gas prices is a wake-up call that we must become more energy independent. Democrats are committed to increasing energy independence and security; in fact, we enacted the first new fuel efficiency standards for cars in 32 years.
Continuing to fund the government in week by week increments is inefficient, costly to taxpayers and creates uncertainty in the public and private sector. Democrats stand ready to make smart, targeted cuts that will not undermine economic growth and American competitiveness. With conservative Republicans refusing to negotiate, it’s clear that Republican leadership should work with Democrats to pass a compromise measure – without extreme social policy riders that do not belong in this funding measure – so that we can reduce spending while protecting investments that will grow the economy and create jobs.
Democrats’ overwhelming priority in the 112th Congress is job creation. In the last Congress, we took important steps to pull our country back from the brink of a depression and create as many as 2 million jobs—but we also know that millions of Americans remain out of work. So it’s surprising and disappointing that, almost three months into this new Congress, Republicans have failed to even propose a single job-creating bill. The people we represent deserve better.
I want to thank you for all of your hard work to strengthen local communities across our country. More than 2,000 counties and 15,000 municipalities count on your work. And as those communities work to make themselves better places to live, to start a business, to get an education, and to raise a family, they are counting on your expertise and your advocacy.
Over the course of the next three weeks, Democrats and Republicans must work together to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year. Democrats have shown that we are willing to cut spending as long as it does not hurt our economy or cost jobs. I hope Republicans show a similar willingness to compromise and work with us. They cannot insist on extreme social policy riders that have no place in a debate on spending cuts, and they must come down from their reckless and economically damaging demand for $100 billion in spending cuts. After this week’s vote in the House, it is clear that if Republicans do not insist on inflammatory riders and make targeted and smart spending cuts, we will be able to reach a compromise.
Some veteran Republican House members are pushing back against conservative deficit hawks who are pushing for endlessly deep spending cuts, saying the right wing of the party is creating unnecessary divisions for the GOP majority.
The House of Representatives passed emergency legislation Tuesday to keep the government funded through mid-April and avoid a shutdown reminiscent of the one Newt Gingrich triggered back in 1995.
The House gave grudging approval on Tuesday to a plan to finance the federal government for three more weeks, even as dozens of Republicans broke with their leadership and opposed the stopgap legislation.
Defections among rank-and-file House Republicans on the latest short-term U.S. spending bill exposed divisions that may complicate negotiations with Democrats on a broader budget plan.