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 legislation exemplifies this Do-Nothing Republican Congress. Once again, Republicans are choosing to focus on a political messaging bill over serious issues like jobs, middle-class tax cuts, or a farm bill. Instead, the House is wasting time on a Republican bill that misrepresents the facts in an attempt to score political points.
Before Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, they announced their “Pledge to America” with claims that they would focus on priorities important to the American people, such as creating jobs, restoring economic certainty, and reducing the deficit. Two years later, Republicans’ record shows that they abandoned their pledge, and instead have consistently chosen to focus on partisan political issues rather than policies to restore our economy or create jobs. Now House Republicans are adjourning until after the election, and Republican leaders are concluding their legislative agenda the same way they started it: choosing obstruction and political messaging over working together to enact policies that help Americans.
“Today’s action is yet another step taken by the Obama Administration to hold China accountable for their unfair and illegal trade practices. When competing on a level playing field, American workers, businesses, and manufacturers can out-compete anyone. But by providing illegal export subsidies to their auto and auto-parts industries, China is tilting the playing field in their favor and putting other nations, including the U.S., at a distinct disadvantage.
MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC WHIP
This week marked the solemn anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. I joined with my colleagues to remember those who were lost on that day, and to pledge to continue efforts that keep our nation safe and secure.
We’ve been saying it all along, but this article in Roll Call presents some pretty stark numbers of exactly how fruitless the Republican-led House has been:
“Thank you, Madam Speaker. First I want to of course associate myself with the remarks from [Rep. David] Dreier and [Rep. David] Price, who have done such terrific work in the spread of democracy, but also to lament the tragic loss of life and the courage displayed by our men and women in our foreign service and who are deployed abroad to represent the United States, its democracy and its principles.
“I want to congratulate Dan Lipinski for authoring this legislation. It is one of the key pieces of our Make It In America agenda, which my distinguished colleague from North Carolina [Rep. G.K. Butterfield] has discussed. I want to thank my dear and good friend Mary Bono Mack for her leadership on this effort. As the gentleman said, and I could adopt his remarks, the previous speaker, Mr. Kinzinger, we do need a manufacturing policy, we do need a manufacturing renaissance, and we do need a psychology that America’s going to be number one and stay number one and create the kind of good paying jobs for our people that manufacturing provides.
“Hopefully [a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff] will come together before the end of the year. I've been working on that. Others have been working on that. Contrary to what I heard Mr. Cantor say, the President of the United States in the 32 years I've been in Congress, has spent more time working with Republicans and frankly with Democrats in the White House around his conference table to try to get to an agreement. The Republicans walked away from the Bowles-Simpson plan. They walked away from the [Vice President] Joe Biden talks. Mr. Cantor himself walked away from those. And they walked away from the [Speaker John] Boehner- [President Barack] Obama agreement. So I'm hopeful that we will come to agreement. I think Moody's is correct - if we don't, we will undermine confidence and undermine credibility of the United States. We need to come to agreement. We need to sit down together and reason together and adopt a balanced plan. That's the trick.”
Recently, House Republicans have spent time playing the blame game and attempting to distance themselves from the devastating effects of the upcoming sequestration, designed to force Congress to enact a long-term plan to restore our nation’s fiscal health. But a look at the not-so-distant past shows that sequestration was approved with 174 Republican votes and House Republican leaders were praising the process just a year ago, even claiming credit for the majority of the deal:
“For the thirtieth month straight, our economy continued to add private sector jobs in August. With 103,000 more Americans back to work last month in the private sector and the unemployment rate dropping from 8.3% to 8.1%, our economic recovery is moving forward, and our nation is headed in the right direction.