DeLauro Remarks During Special Order Hour on the Economy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — (January 28, 2020) Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) spoke on the Floor of the House of Representatives during a special order hour on the Trump Administration economy. House Democrats released a new Joint Economic Committee report today highlighting how Trump Administration's economic policies are crippling working people and middle-class families in favor of the rich.

A full video of her speech can be found here, and below are her remarks as delivered:

I thank the gentleman, I thank the Majority Leader for the opportunity to speak on this Special Order.

You know, Americans are struggling under President Trump. They are desperately waiting for their incomes to rise and their costs to slow. Yet, the president has failed to fully deliver on his promises to them. That's according to the Joint Economic Committee's excellent new report.

In fact, according to this report, growth in median annual household income was three times greater during the last two years of the Obama administration than the first two years of the Trump administration.

And, mostly job growth has slowed. According to the report, in the first 35 months of President Trump's term, there were 36,000 fewer non-farm jobs created per month than the final 35 months of President Obama's term.

And this is despite the Republican's 2017 tax law. It will cost $1.9 trillion dollars. But 83% of its benefits go to the top 1%.

Working people, middle-class families cannot afford more of the president's giveaways to the wealthy and the well-connected. The single biggest economic challenge of our time is that people's pay is not keeping rise with skyrocketing costs: health care, childcare, housing.

They struggle, including in my state of Connecticut. The United Way put out a report. It's the Asset-Limited Income Constrained Employment, the ALICE report. And what essentially it says is that people who are working one or two jobs just can't make it--a standard of living. They are above the poverty line but, they can't make it. Out of the 20 most common jobs, occupations, registered nurses, cashiers, laborers, etc. Only one pays enough to reasonably support a household. That's operations managers.

Under this president, many Americans are suffering, something akin to a personal economic crisis. To claim otherwise is to ignore the reality of their circumstances.

We see their suffering, that's why the House has passed the Paycheck Fairness Act for equal pay, lower drug costs, to reduce prescription drug costs, Raise The Wage for raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

We need to work hard to make opportunity real for people. We urge the president to join us because as this new report from the Joint Economic Committee indicates, Americans need a break, not more broken promises.