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Jobs & the Economy

Creating jobs and expanding economic opportunity continues to be Democrats’ top priority.

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.


Jobs & the Economy Related

In the previous Congress, the Democratic House Majority passed the Raise the Wage Act in order to ensure that American workers can earn incomes that enable them to make ends meet.  Today, Chairman Scott and Members of the Committee on Education and Labor are reintroducing this bill for the 117th Congress. 
The House has now passed legislation to increase the amount of the economic impact payments from $600 to $2,000.  The Democratic-led House has worked responsibly and tirelessly from the beginning of this pandemic to keep Americans safe and limit the economic impacts of COVID-19. 
This week’s unemployment insurance claims report ought to set off alarm bells across the country. It is clear that Republicans’ obstruction of COVID-19 relief has had a severely negative impact on employment, which is not recovering and, in fact, is worsening.
The November jobs report reveals a recovery that is stalled due to Senate Republicans’ failure to act. The pace of job increases leaves us far short of where we were before this crisis began. The number of people leaving the workforce entirely is only going up, while those who have already left it but who want a job increased by nearly half a million.
 
Brian Deese is an excellent choice to lead the National Economic Council (NEC), and his selection ought to reassure Americans that President-elect Biden's White House team will be relentlessly focused on an economic agenda that helps all of our people get ahead. 
The economic team announced by President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris today not only looks like America, it reflects a commitment to ensuring that our economic policies make it possible for all Americans to get through this crisis and access opportunities that help them get ahead.
There can be no mistaking the truth: our economy is in a crisis the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes.
With two weeks left before Election Day and millions of Americans already casting their ballots, President Donald Trump still has not indicated what his policy agenda would be for a second term.
Today's jobs report shows that the recovery we had begun to experience from the COVID-19 pandemic’s job losses has slowed. More than 10 million Americans are unemployed now compared to February. At September’s pace, it would take three years to recover just the jobs lost in the month of April alone. 
Madam Speaker, this week, Democrats are coming to the Floor to highlight the work we have been doing over the past two years governing for the people – in sharp contrast with the way President Trump and Republicans have failed the people.