Press Release
"The Congressional Budget Office's updated Budget and Economic Outlook released today reflects the seriousness of our nation's deficit problem, as well as our continuing need to create jobs...
I want to express my deepest condolences to the families of those lost today in the vicious terror attacks in Southern Israel. Today’s coordinated attacks are a stark reminder of the danger Israelis face on a daily basis. America stands by Israel in the wake of these attacks, and we must do all we can to prevent such attacks from happening again.
This afternoon, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announced that she has selected Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Xavier Becerra, and Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen to represent House Democrats on the joint bipartisan committee on deficit reduction. Reps. Clyburn, Becerra, and Van Hollen will bring to the process a strong grasp of the issues confronting our budget and a strong commitment to standing up for the needs of middle-class Americans while bringing our deficit under control and working to create jobs. I'm confident they will represent the views of our caucus and work diligently to reach a balanced agreement that will reduce the deficit and put our nation back on a fiscally sustainable path.
While there are clearly some legitimate concerns with S&P’s analysis, I share the President’s view that the greatest barrier to restoring our fiscal health is not economic—it is political. We can put our fiscal house in order when leaders in Washington are willing to put politics aside and take fiscally responsible action in the national interest. And Americans have long known that a fiscal solution must be balanced in order to be effective; in fact, just such a solution was proposed by the president’s bipartisan fiscal commission, led by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. If partisan actors continue to reject a comprehensive solution and pursue their ideological agenda at all costs, then the world will continue to doubt America’s fiscal seriousness. But if the joint committee on the deficit and leaders in Washington agree to put all of the causes of our deficit on the table, including both spending and revenue, then we can return our nation to fiscal health and strengthen confidence in our economy.
Today, the Obama Administration announced that it is taking steps to reform No Child Left Behind – a flawed law that is long overdue for reauthorization. Education is critical to our nation’s economic success, which is why the Democrats’ Make It In America agenda prioritizes investments in key areas like education. This plan aims to ensure that our nation has a workforce prepared to succeed in the global economy and that our schools have the resources they need to help our children achieve those goals. This includes maintaining accountability measures to make sure students are truly ready for college and high-paying careers with opportunity for growth; attracting the best and the brightest to the teaching profession, and compensating them appropriately; and providing schools with the tools to help them succeed. Our future as a nation depends on it.
Tonight's announcement serves as yet another wakeup call that we must put politics aside as we work to put our nation's fiscal house back in order. S&P has made it clear that they expect us to reach a balanced, comprehensive agreement to reduce the deficit. The joint committee must be ready to put everything on the table so that we can restore our credit rating and return our nation to a fiscally sustainable path.
This morning, we received news that our economy added 154,000 private-sector jobs in the month of July; with layoffs of public employees factored in, we added 117,000 net jobs. It is encouraging that our private sector has added jobs for 17 straight months, and that our economy has come a long way from the days, at the beginning of President Obama's term, when it was losing 700,000 jobs per month. But today's report is still unsatisfactory for the millions of Americans who remain unemployed and for the millions more waiting to feel the effects of economic recovery. Clearly, we must do more.
I am pleased that more than 74,000 workers will be back on the job and important airport construction projects will move forward. However, many important policy differences remain on a final FAA reauthorization. We owe it to these American workers to not only forge a long-term solution, but to avoid inserting further policy riders in any short-term extensions that may be necessary until final agreement is reached.
I look forward to returning to Israel to continue learning first-hand about the evolving security situation in the Middle East, the deep challenges facing Israel, and the role the United States can play in the region during this time of uncertainty,” said Hoyer. “I'm pleased Members of Congress have this opportunity to study American interests in the Middle East and gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved in increasing stability in the region.
As Leader Reid has pointed out today, almost 4,000 federal employees, and some 70,000 workers for contractors around this country are being held captive. They are out on the street because Republicans have refused to work with us to find common ground. The FAA shutdown will jeopardize $11 billion in construction projects. It will cost more than $200 million per week. It has already cost us $360 million. This is from the party that is worried about fiscal responsibility. Furloughs of thousands of people of critical aviation engineers, safety analysts, and key personnel—we owe it to these workers to come together and reach a compromise. We owe it to every American taxpayer to come together and reach a compromise. We need to get this done, and we should get it done today.