February 02, 2022

CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: “THE AMERICA COMPETES ACT WILL INVEST IN THE CREATION OF MILLIONS OF JOBS ACROSS AMERICA”

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 the America COMPETES Act, which will strengthen our supply chains and create millions of good-paying jobs. They were joined by DPCC Co-Chairs Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) who announced that House Democrats have held over 1,200 events highlighting the transformational Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: Today, we had a highly productive meeting and discussion with our special guest Secretary Raimondo, who is doing an extraordinary job as our Secretary of Commerce. The discussion was largely around The America COMPETES Act, another extraordinarily important piece of legislation that the House Democratic majority is going to pass this week.

The America COMPETES Act will invest in the creation of millions of good-paying jobs all across America. It will invest in research and development, invest in our national security interests, invest in making sure America can continue to lead the technology and innovation economy. And at the same time, it will deal with some of the inflationary dynamics that we are endeavoring to confront on behalf of the American people. Once again, when we pass The America COMPETES Act, it will make clear that Democrats deliver For The People.

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VICE CHAIR AGUILAR: First, I want to extend on behalf of the Chair and our colleagues up here, our thoughts and our prayers are with Senator Ben Ray Luján. We like to say that Senator Luján is on loan to the Senate, but he is a House person. And we wish him the best, and we know that he will pull through and do well here and I look forward to seeing his smiling face around these parts. This week, on the heels of the fastest economic growth in four decades, we continue our efforts to support the post-pandemic economy that works for the middle class and strengthens productivity and industry and makes life easier for working families.

Our DPCC Co-Chairs are going to talk through what events House Democrats have held across this country to support the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In my district, I had a roundtable last week with local city officials and mayors. I'm a former mayor and I know that all of my former colleagues back home are interested and invested themselves in the success of this bill. I heard loud and clear their support for the bill, but I also heard them reiterate their support for the American Rescue Plan, which benefited local communities with funding for schools, local governments and small businesses.

This week we will continue to strengthen our supply chain, as the Chairman said, and our economy, making this country more competitive with the COMPETES Act. And no amount of obstruction from the Republican Party can stop us or diminish the steps that we've taken to bring our economy back from the brink and create more than six million jobs since President Biden was sworn in.

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DPCC CO-CHAIR LIEU: Democrats are delivering For the People. We've had the fastest economic growth in nearly four decades, the lowest unemployment rate in five decades and, with six million jobs created since January 20, President Biden and Democrats have achieved the fastest job growth in U.S. history in one year. Growth is up. Wages are up. Unemployment is down. This is just the beginning.

The infrastructure law is going to result in millions of more good-paying jobs, union jobs, jobs that cannot be outsourced. Democrats embarked on a challenge to do over 1,000 infrastructure events. We announced this last November, to have that done by the end of January. We're very pleased that our Caucus did over 1,200 events as of yesterday. 1,271, to be exact. That's over 1,200 reminders that Democrats are fighting For The People by fixing roads, bridges, highways, ports and airports. By getting broadband everywhere from rural areas, to inner cities and everywhere in between. Taking lead out of our pipes and making sure that we continue to grow our economy. It's also over 1,000 reminders that 200 Republicans have voted against fixing roads, bridges and highways and these good-paying union jobs.

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DPCC CO-CHAIR DINGELL: As we said, we did 1,271 and we're still counting. We got more events and we're going to keep them coming because we need to tell the story. The more we talk about what we do, the more people know how we're delivering for them. So these events underscore just how important the infrastructure investments are for local communities and local economies across the country. People don't know what we've done and we are making sure that they know. We need to have you help us make sure they know what we are doing.

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We're out there telling this story and we're just getting started. We really want people to know how this bill is going to make a difference in their lives in so many ways, not just fixing — in Michigan we call it "the damn roads" — and the bridges, but from the Great Lakes, to the internet, to lead out of pipes but there's so much more in there that makes everybody's life better, and that's what we're going to be doing for the rest of this year.

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DPCC CO-CHAIR NEGUSE: […] These events have showcased exactly what this infrastructure bill will bring to our country, just to recap that, I know you all are well aware of it, but it is worth emphasizing. Rebuilding roads and bridges nationwide, including the largest bridge investment since the construction of the Interstate Highway System seven decades ago. None of us were alive — on this stage — when the Interstate Highway System was first conceived, and this bill will now deliver the largest investment since that time. Delivering clean drinking water to 10 million families and more than 400,000 schools and child care facilities nationwide, with the largest-ever investment in American water infrastructure to replace lead pipes and service lines across the nation. Expanding access to high-speed, reliable internet, which I already mentioned, helping families get online to work and to learn, making historic improvements to public transit: the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak. And finally supporting action to address the climate crisis, including making down payments on clean energy investments, a clean, resilient electric grid, electric vehicle infrastructure and so much more.

So at the end of the day, it’s very clear to us, and I think clear to the American people, that we are rebuilding our infrastructure, rebuilding our middle class, creating good-paying American jobs that cannot be outsourced and ultimately making life better for communities around our country. We are showing that the "D" in "Democrat" does stand for "deliver" and we will continue to do that each and every day moving forward. 

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Video of the full press conference and Q&A can be viewed here.