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.
This evening, 313 Members of the House - virtually every Democrat and a majority of Republicans - joined together in a vote to reopen the Export-Import Bank and help American exporters create good jobs here in our country.
We don't have an agreement on a number of things the gentleman has said. What we do have an agreement on, I presume, is that the gentleman from California wants to see is a solvent nation, a nation that pays its bills, a nation that does not create a lack of confidence in our own country and around the world.
"No one believes that it’s good policy not to make sure, as Peter Welch says, that America pays its bills."
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on the Congressional Budget Office's monthly budget review for September, the final report for FY 2015. The review showed that the federal government ran a deficit of $435 billion in FY 2015, the smallest deficit since 2007:
We’re here to send a strong message by Democrats in the House and Senate and by Americans across the country that sequester – that’s a complicated word that I tell people starts with ‘S,’ which stands for stupid – must be replaced. The sequester harms our economy and our national security.
Last week, the Treasury Department notified Congress that extraordinary measures to prevent a default will be exhausted on November 5.
“According to the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics report released today, our economy gained 118,000 private sector jobs in September, making it the sixty-seventh straight month of private sector job growth.
This afternoon, the House and Senate received a letter from the Treasury Department providing notice that the extraordinary measures employed to avoid a default on or debt will be exhausted on November 5.
In July, House Democrats hosted their first “Make It In America: What’s Next?” hearing, where thirty-four Members participated and shared their thoughts on how to best respond to new economic challenges and support new opportunities for job creation and economic growth.