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.
It’s been nearly a year since Republicans took the House majority and they pledged to focus on Americans’ top priorities: creating jobs and growing our economy. But instead of working with Democrats on a bipartisan basis to put Americans back to work and address the deficit in a meaningful way, Republicans have led an unproductive year and focused on the wrong priorities.
Democrats have repeatedly indicated that we are willing to work with our Republican counterparts to extend the payroll tax holiday. If it is allowed to expire at the end of this year, Americans will have less money in their pockets, threatening our economic recovery at a critical time. We should not leave for the holidays until Congress has extended the payroll tax holiday, unemployment insurance benefits, and fixed the Medicare physician payment rate. Republicans should not play political games with these critical policies, and I hope that they will work with us to take action on these items quickly.
I continue to urge the Republican leadership to work with us to avoid expirations of unemployment insurance benefits, the payroll tax holiday, and the Medicare physician payment rate. Unless we act, millions of Americans who are looking for work will lose the ability to support themselves and their families when unemployment insurance benefits begin expiring at the end of the year.
Our economy added 140,000 private sector jobs in November, the twenty-first consecutive month of growth, and we saw our unemployment rate fall from 9% to 8.6%. These are further positive signs for our recovery, but as long as Republicans continue to avoid passing a real jobs plan we will be unable to achieve the kind of significant job creation we need.
According to NBC’s First Read, Speaker Boehner ducked on the issue of extending unemployment benefits before they expire at his weekly press conference this afternoon:
I commend Ranking Member Rahall and other Transportation Committee Democrats for unveiling a bill today that will promote job creation and help more families Make It In America by requiring that infrastructure projects use American-made products. In order to create jobs and remain competitive in the global economy, we need to revitalize our roads, runways and bridges. At a time when too many Americans remain out of work, there is no reason why the materials to build these projects should not come from right here at home, in a manner consistent with our international obligations.
As Republicans continue their drive to protect tax breaks for the wealthy at all costs, they are firm in their conviction that said tax breaks will actually create jobs.
However, according to an op-ed in Bloomberg by venture capitalist and admitted “very rich person” Nick Hanauer; “an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator that I have ever been or ever will be.”
While the Republican sponsors of the two bills before us contend they will create jobs, their claim is spurious. Economists have told us again and again that easing regulations has a negligible effect on job creation. The only thing these bills will do is make it harder for federal agencies to protect Americans through safety standards and environmental protections. One of the bills adds 35 pages to what is currently a 45 page law, and is likely to add 21 to 39 months to the rulemaking process. Agencies will be tied in knots and leave businesses without the certainty they need.
I oppose the Senate Republicans’ payroll tax proposal because it will further strip federal employees of wages and benefits. Federal employees have already stepped up to the plate and are helping to put our nation on a sounder fiscal footing, accepting a 2-year pay freeze which reduces the benefits they would have received by $60 billion over ten years. It is not appropriate to once again call on federal employees to contribute while not asking everyone else to contribute their fair share. It is also ironic that at a time when we need to grow jobs, Republicans are proposing to reduce them, taking our economy in the wrong direction.
Before we adjourn for the year, there are a number of important items we must address. The most pressing is the expiration of unemployment benefits at the end of December. Should Congress fail to act, millions of Americans who rely on emergency unemployment compensation will begin to see their payments disappear in starting in January. 2.1 million will have lost their benefits by the middle of February and over 6 million by the end of 2012.