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.
“Today’s confirmation of Penny Pritzker as our new Secretary of Commerce is welcome news for America’s businesses and entrepreneurs. With a strong record of leadership in the private sector and experience serving the Administration as an advisor to the President on jobs and competitiveness, she brings a wealth of talent and expertise to her new position, which will benefit the President’s ongoing efforts to help American businesses grow and access a range of opportunities in financing, export assistance, and market access.
“I join in marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, a core component of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal that standardized the forty-hour workweek, guaranteed ‘time-and-a-half’ overtime pay, and established the first federal minimum wage.
After House Republicans’ deep divisions led to the failure of the Farm bill last week, Congress has less than one week remaining before the July 4th district work period to address several crucial issues. Here’s a look at legislation that the Republican leadership should bring to the House Floor for consideration, but instead continues to ignore:
MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC WHIP
This week, House Republicans failed to pass a farm bill providing certainty to America’s farmers after they added harmful partisan amendments to the original bill that would make drastic cuts to critical nutrition programs. This Republican farm bill would have cut $20.5 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, of which half of its beneficiaries a
“I join in marking the 50th annual National Small Business Week, when Americans pay tribute to the millions of small business owners and employees across our country.
“It is clear from this morning’s employment report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that Congress must act to end the uncertainty caused by a lack of a clear direction in fiscal policy and made worse by sequestration.
“I am disappointed that House Republicans are once again asking Department of Veterans Affairs workers to forgo their annual cost-of-living adjustment for another year.
“Today’s report is a clear sign that Congress must do more to help our manufacturing sector compete.
“[N]otwithstanding the fact that Republicans have been talking about regular order for years and years and years, notwithstanding the fact that they demanded that the Senate pass a budget, which of course the Senate has done… they have refused in both the Senate and the House to go to conference.
Today, House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) and Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA) introduced the "Half-in-Ten" Act of 2013 that would establish the Federal Interagency Working Group on Reducing Poverty, which will develop and implement a national strategy to reduce poverty by half in ten years, as well as provide regular reports on their progress to Congress.