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.
As we begin the new year and the Second Session of the 114th Congress, newly elected Speaker Paul Ryan has an opportunity to turn the page on the bitter partisanship of the past few years and show that he is willing to work across the aisle to get things done for the American people. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that “House Speaker Paul Ryan starting this month will push to turn the chamber into a platform for ambitious Republican policy ideas.” But evidence points to the contrary, with the first items on the House’s agenda for 2016 being the sixty-second vote to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, the eleventh vote to attack women’s health, and several bills that would undermine consumer safety, workplace safety, and environmental protections. House Republican leaders know these bills will never become law, yet they continue to pander to the far right with political messaging bills instead of bringing substantive, bipartisan legislation to the Floor. It is also unfortunate that Speaker Ryan has already taken issues such as comprehensive immigration reform and an expansion of paid family and medical leave off of the table.
This morning’s jobs report for December, which shows a gain of 275,000 private sector jobs, provides us with a bookend to a year in which we’ve witnessed steady job growth that has brought the unemployment rate down more than half a percentage point since last January.
As we begin the second session of the 114th Congress, there are a number of critical issues the American people expect to see Congress address.
I thank [Appropriations Committee Ranking Member] Lowey and Chairman Rogers for their leadership on this bill.
If they had a kitchen sink, pro-business lobbyists pushing for the renewal of the Export-Import Bank might have thrown that, too.
The House on Thursday took a step toward reviving the Export-Import Bank, by voting to renew the embattled institution's funding as part of a five-year federal transportation spending measure.
With our economy adding another 197,000 private sector jobs in November, and the unemployment rate remaining at 5.0% - its lowest level since April 2008, we have now experienced sixty-nine consecutive months of growing private sector jobs.
On Wednesday, October 28, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and House Democrats held the third hearing in a series of hearings titled “Make It In America: What’s Next?”
This is a bill about jobs. The amendment is about killing jobs… Every one of these amendments will undermine the Export-Import Bank that got 313 votes on this Floor.
As a result of our strongly unified effort, House Democrats earned a major victory for American businesses and workers last week by discharging and passing the Export-Import Bank reauthorization bill (H.R. 597) with a bipartisan vote of 313-118.