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.
A look at this morning’s headlines show divided House Republicans will need to work with Democrats on a bipartisan basis in order to pass a bill to fund the government and provide aid to those affected by recent disasters.
This time, President Obama did not compromise with himself beforehand, or put out a half measure in hopes of luring nonexistent Republican support. This time, he issued an unabashed call for economic fairness in cutting the federal deficit, asking as much from those on the economy’s upper rungs as from those lower down whose programs may be trimmed.
This vote sent a clear message to Republicans: the American people want a bipartisan approach to running our government. We should immediately pass disaster relief that meets the needs of our people and protect - not cut - programs proven to create jobs while we reduce the deficit. If Republican leaders bring a bill to the floor that honors the bipartisan agreement from August, they will find it has bipartisan support for passage.
I rise in opposition to this bill. Now, all of us are for a Continuing Resolution which keeps the government in business. In the past on both sides of the aisle we have talked about clean CR’s. Clean CRs in the short-term, this going until November 18, to keep government running. I was hopeful we would have such a CR this time. So that we would not continue to give to the American public the feeling that we can't come to agreement.
The deficit reduction plan put forward by the President is a balanced approach to reduce the deficit, create jobs, strengthen entitlement programs and ensure that all Americans pay their fair share. But rather than work with Democrats on a balanced plan, Republicans immediately rejected the President’s proposal because it calls on all Americans to do their part. By opposing a plan that asks the wealthy to pay their fair share, Republicans will be forced to answer the question: Who do they stand with?
- The Treasury Department working paper they’ve referenced compares the first four years of tax changes.
The plan put forward by the President today is a balanced approach to create jobs in the short-term and bring down the deficit over the long-term. It asks everyone to pay their fair share, strengthens Medicare and Medicaid for future generations while protecting beneficiaries, and emphasizes the need for immediate job creation. It lays out how the Joint Select Committee can go beyond their mandated deficit reduction requirement, which I believe is essential to getting a handle on our nation’s deficit. I also support the President’s call for tax reform that would help grow the economy and reduce the deficit by lowering rates and closing wasteful loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and special interests.
Wanted to make sure you all saw the Washington Post's Fact-Checker on John Boehner's "misfire" on federal regulations. Turns out Boehner's claims on federal regulations contained "significant factual errors."
Judge for yourself, here.
The patent that led to the telephone was approved in one month. The patent that led to the cell phone, as former White House economic advisor Austan Goolsbee recently observed, was approved in three years. Today, patents are held up for even longer -- and jobs and growth are held up with them. At this moment, more than 700,000 patents are caught in the backlog. Could one of those 700,000 new ideas be the next iPhone, the next breakthrough drug, the key to the next great American industry? We'll have to wait a long time to find out.
My friend has been recently quoted; I’m sure, accurately, perhaps, correct me if I’m wrong, in saying that during the first eight months we focused on ‘cut’ of [Republicans’] ‘cut and grow’ [plan], and now we need to focus on ‘grow.’ I would tell my friend, assuming that quote is accurate, that in fact here we are again focused on ‘cut,’ not on ‘grow.’