July 27, 2022

CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: “PEOPLE OVER POLITICS, LOWER COSTS, BETTER-PAYING JOBS, SAFER COMMUNITIES. THAT’S WHAT HOUSE DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN ALL ABOUT.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Vice Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) held a leadership press conference where they highlighted House Democrats’ continued work to put people over politics, lower costs, create better-paying jobs and safer communities.

CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: As we prepare for the August district work period, it's another busy week here in Washington, D.C. Democrats are working hard to deliver for everyday Americans, which we fight for with everything that we've got. We've had a tremendous amount of success legislatively in moving bills that will make a difference for everyday Americans, that put people over politics, lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities. That's what House Democrats have been all about. People over politics, lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities. We don't just talk about it, we are about it.
 
We lowered costs with the American Rescue Plan Act to save the economy, of course, put shots in arms, money in pockets, enacted the transformational Child Tax Credit, helped to make health care more affordable through enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and, of course, got our children back to school, lower costs – and we're continuing to work on that issue. Better-paying jobs, historic investment in infrastructure that will create millions of good-paying jobs – not a single one of which can be shipped overseas. Good-paying jobs, better-paying jobs here in America. Urban America, suburban America, exurban America, rural America, small town America, Appalachia. That's people over politics, that's delivering For The People.
 
And, of course, safer communities in the midst of a gun violence epidemic. For the first time in 30 years, under the leadership of President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Democrats in the House and the Senate, we've enacted meaningful gun safety legislation. Of course, there's more to be done. That's why we're going to continue to fight for safer communities. People over politics. That's what House Democrats are all about. That's what drives us, and that's what we've been working on. Lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities.
 
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VICE CHAIR AGUILAR: A lot of items on the agenda this week and we look forward to the legislation that the House Democratic Caucus can pass this week and the Chairman, I'm sure, will be asked about some of our legislative agenda items this week as well. But I did want to talk briefly about last week. We had another January 6 Committee hearing with 17 million people tuning in and I think Adam Kinzinger summed it up best when he said we had a president who didn't fail to act, he chose not to act while the insurrection was taking place and the violent assault on the Capitol. And then even the day after when he reluctantly went before the cameras, he still couldn't bring himself to say that the election was over. That's the type of threat to democracy that we face and that's why I've been privileged to work with January 6 Committee Members to have hearings and to expose what we have learned in order to protect this Capitol, but also to protect democracy.
 
The fact that people have been willing to cooperate with our investigation is a testament, we feel, to how the hearings proceeded. We still continue to take in testimony, and we plan to have more to say throughout August and September related to the committee's work. But it has been clear and compelling, the American people have tuned in and we continue to work to protect democracy and to expose what happened on January 6.
 
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Video of the full press conference and Q&A can be viewed here.