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.
The release today of the third U.S. National Climate Assessment is an important step toward fulfilling the goals of the Climate Action Plan President Obama laid out last June.
While Republicans ignore the majority of Americans who support raising the minimum wage, will they ignore fellow Republicans? This week, Rick Santorum is following in Tim Pawlenty’s footsteps and calling for his colleagues to raise the minimum wage. From the Washington Post:
This week House Republicans are bringing legislation to the Floor to extend the research and development tax credit for businesses.
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today after the Department of Labor released its jobs report for April:
As the gentleman knows, we have an agenda, which I talked to him about briefly, we call Make It In America, which is essentially about growing manufacturing, encouraging manufacturers to return to the United States, and encouraging people when they want to go into manufacturing to do so here in America. Not only will that provide for a made in America label all over the world, but it will also provide the middle-class jobs and opportunities that we need. Part of that agenda, I will tell my friend, is to make permanent the research and development tax credit.
Once again, the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly report shows that our manufacturing sector is growing at a strong pace, continuing to demonstrate resilience even in the face of uncertainty caused by gridlock in Congress. American manufacturers want to make more of their products here and sell them around the country and across the world – and, in the process, invest in new facilities, new hiring, and innovation.
I am very disappointed that Senate Republicans voted today to block consideration of a bill to give American workers the raise they deserve.
As Budget Chairman Paul Ryan continues his “poverty messaging tour” today, with both a Budget hearing and CBC meeting, your ever-helpful Democratic Whip press shop put some questions together for you to ask him. There’s a lot to choose from, including his budget that disinvests in the majority of critical programs that prevent poverty and help people get out of it, and a voting record that doesn’t reflect an interest in ending poverty. Here are just a few questions to get you started:
With our economy growing at a far slower pace than expected in the first quarter of the year, Congress must take stock of missed opportunities to boost growth in order to put more Americans back to work.
This week, House Republicans begin pursuing an agenda laid out by Leader Cantor in a memo titled, “An America that Works.” Unfortunately, the GOP memo shows exactly why, under their leadership, this is a Congress that doesn’t work. What they have put forward is an agenda that works for some, while denying access to opportunities for millions by ignoring immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, renewing emergency unemployment insurance, or creating jobs.