Creating jobs and rebuilding our economy continues to be Democrats’ top priority. Even as our economy recovers, too many Americans are not seeing that recovery in their daily lives. That has to change, and that’s why Democrats are fighting for a better deal for middle class families and small businesses. We are pursuing a Make It In America plan to address the current economic challenges facing working families by investing in three core areas: education, to ensure all Americans have the skills needed to get good-paying jobs; infrastructure, which will create jobs and better connect communities by repairing roads and bridges and expanding high-speed internet access; and entrepreneurship, to encourage Americans to start their own businesses by streamlining regulations, providing access to affordable health care and retirement savings, and increasing access to credit and loans..
Rather than work with Democrats to build on the economic progress made under the Obama Administration, President Trump has failed to put forward a single jobs bill. He hasn’t taken action to support job creation, and in fact, his budget would slash investments in infrastructure, education, research, and other areas that support job creation. Forecasters have lowered growth estimates; despite promises to the contrary, companies like Ford and Carrier are shipping jobs overseas; and 2017 saw the first four consecutive months since 2012 of the economy adding fewer than 200,000 new private sector jobs.
In contrast, Democrats have a strong record of job creation. In 2009, when faced with the deepest recession in generations, Democrats passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which cut taxes for 95% of American families and led the way to 2,562,000 new private sector jobs by the end of his term. Democrats also enacted Wall Street reform legislation that restored common sense rules to protect families and our economy from the excesses of big banks and help prevent a financial collapse from happening again. This law, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, aims to protect middle class Americans by increasing consumer protections and preventing taxpayers from having to bailout financial institutions. Today, Congressional Republicans are undermining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which works to protect consumers following the financial crisis. Democrats will continue to defend the work of the CFPB as Republicans seek to strip away these protections.
Democrats believe that small businesses are the backbone of our economy, working to grow and create jobs. Democrats have pushed for legislation to prevent multinational corporations from outsourcing jobs overseas, while giving tax credits to businesses who hire new employees here in the United States, as well as restore the flow of credit to small businesses so they can grow and create jobs, and extend the research and development tax credit that encourages innovation and job creation.