Committee Democrats Condemn Republicans for Driving the Nation into an Economically Disastrous Government Shutdown

Washington, D.C. (September 20, 2023)—Rep. Cori Bush, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, led Subcommittee Democrats in highlighting the economic successes of the Biden-Harris Administration's economic policies, and contrasting them with the Republicans' inability to fund the government.

"Republicans are trying to distract us from the internal dysfunction which is steering our nation toward a government shutdown. The question is, do we choose to invest in defense contractors or reduce poverty for millions of people?" said Ranking Member Bush in her opening statement.

The hearing included testimony from Bobby Kogan, Senior Director of Federal Budget Policy, Center for American Progress; Carrie Sheffield, Senior Policy Analyst, Independent Women's Forum; Professor Casey Mulligan, University of Chicago; and E.J. Antoni, Research Fellow, Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, Heritage Foundation,

Senior Fellow, Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

Subcommittee Democrats touted America's economic growth despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war on Ukraine:

• In response to questions from Congresswoman Eleanor Norton, Mr. Kogan said the Biden-Harris Administration has directed "enormous progress in the last two years" and described how the American Rescue Plan helped "create the strongest job market in American History. Right now, the employment to population ratio adjusted for demographics is the strongest it has ever been and that has redounded to the benefit of the American people. And we see that low wage earners are actually doing the best out of any cohort of folks."
  

Subcommittee Democrats highlighted how the Biden-Harris Administration's policies are rebuilding the U.S. economy by growing the middle class and investing in home ownership in communities:

• Mr. Kogan testified that "home ownership is one of the best ways for families to build wealth and to pass on intergenerational wealth," but that private equity buying up houses "is limiting kind of the ability for folks to shop for what they need and ability to find what they can do." Ranking Member Cori Bush responded: "The Biden-Harris Administration is working to address this problem. The Administration's Housing Supply Action Plan will reduce barriers for families to access housing by expanding financing for low-income and climate-ready housing and promoting the conversion of unused commercial space to residential space."

Subcommittee Democrats condemned Republicans for driving the United States into a government shutdown that will hurt American families and the national economy:

• Rep. Melanie Stansbury countered Republican claims that Bidenomics was a threat to Americans, stating: "The single largest threat to the economy in the real world right now is a government shutdown. And what is especially strange and ironic to me is that we're sitting here this afternoon after the Majority failed to even get a Continuing Resolution to the floor to keep the U.S. government open, more or less, pass a single Appropriation bill to keep this government functioning."

###