Rep. Melanie Stansbury’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing Highlighting Biden-Harris Administration's Record of Job Creation, Economic Growth

Washington, D.C. (September 25, 2024)—Below is Rep. Melanie Stansbury’s opening statement  at today’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs hearing on the Biden-Harris Administration’s economic policies, which have spurred record job creation and economic opportunity for working-class Americans.

Opening Statement
Rep. Melanie Stansbury
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs
Hearing on “Kitchen Table Economics: How Failed Biden-Harris
Policies Continue to Hurt Consumers”
September 25, 2024

Good morning, everyone.  Thank you to the chairman.

I want to welcome everyone to the Oversight Committee, and if it's not been apparent in the opening remarks, we’re 41 days from the presidential election, because the Oversight Committee has been using this Committee—speaking of slush funds—as a slush fund for Donald Trump’s campaign.

So, here we are once again.  We had a similar hearing last week in which the Committee majority brought in witnesses who are tied to Project 2025, and tied to both the former [administration] and what I think Donald Trump would hope would be his future administration, to talk about and to platform their extreme agenda that would take away American rights and that will misrepresent what's happening in our economy, what's happened over the last several years—all in the name of impugning the Vice President, who, of course, is on the ballot with Donald Trump.

So, you're going to hear a lot of things today, most of them are probably not based in facts, economics, ways in which this country is actually structured.  So, I want to just take the opportunity to kind of set the record straight from the top.  Our colleagues today are going to promote a false narrative that the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies are all about hurting American consumers, that they're driving inflation, that they've destroyed our economy.  Of course, Americans are struggling right now.  We've just faced a historic pandemic.  Many Americans were struggling before the pandemic.  We're still recovering from it.

But the truth of the matter is that the United States has amongst the lowest inflationary rates of any industrialized country in the world right now, and it is because of the American Rescue Plan, because of the historic legislation that the Biden-Harris Administration has put into place and that the previous Congress under Democratic leadership passed, that we were able to stop some of the more devastating impacts of the pandemic and the devastating impacts of the previous administration.

So, the exact opposite is true.  We've seen over the course of the Biden-Harris Administration that they inherited an economic mess.  It was both the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was also the impacts of what happened under the previous administration.  And if you roll back the tape, of course you'll see that during the Trump Administration, he advocated for the largest tax giveaway in American history to the wealthiest individuals and large corporations, which has helped to drive not only extreme impacts on the U.S. economy, but enrich the wealth of individuals and corporations at the expense of the working people of this country.

Under the Trump Administration, unemployment skyrocketed to nearly 15%—it was the highest since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting data in 1948.  The highest.  That’s outrageous.  And then as soon as he took office, President Biden worked with Congress to pass meaningful legislation to get it under control.  We passed the American Rescue Plan, which not only helped millions of Americans get through one of the largest economic disturbances in American history, but also through one of the largest pandemics in which the former president was telling people to swallow bleach to deal with COVID-19 and telling them to take horse pills.

If we want to talk about the economy, talk about facts, let's actually talk about facts.  I want to just emphasize some of the important pieces of legislation that have helped the United States get inflation and our economy back on track.  It wasn't just that Biden-Harris came in under this set of extenuating circumstances.  President Biden had a vision of the future of this country.  He had a vision for bringing back American jobs to this country and helped to pass the CHIPS and Science Act, which is one of the most important modern manufacturing bills, as well as a national security bill, to make sure that we are manufacturing Made in America goods here on American soil.  That is creating thousands of jobs and helping to bring manufacturing back to our rural communities, including in mine.

He passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which is building water lines and broadband and roads and bridges all across America.  And he passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which extended health care to millions of Americans, which states had refused to provide expanded Medicaid to, and so our lowest income individuals across the country are actually having access to healthcare for the first time.

The Inflation Reduction Act was also a historic investment in the future of this country.  It's an investment in our economy as we make a transition to an energy economy that is clean and that solves our climate crisis.  Right now, we're seeing millions of dollars being pumped into our communities, that's revitalizing local jobs, that's bringing home manufacturing, and that's employing thousands of New Mexicans and millions of Americans across the country.

Now the question is, how do we translate these economic gains into the real lived experiences of New Mexicans and Americans across the country?  It's easy for politicians to come here and explain to the American people how hard it is to put food on the table and a roof over their head.  I grew up in a working family.  I grew up in a family that struggled to get by, that struggled to make ends meet.  And had it not been during times of crisis when we could depend on resources to help us with housing and to pay for utility bills and to help put food on the table, I wouldn't be sitting here as a congresswoman today.

We know that these programs help lift American people out of poverty, and we know that they stimulate the economy.  So, I'll just say, as we embark on what I'm sure will be an interesting journey into false and fun facts this morning, that the American people are smart.  Don't be fooled by what you're hearing here today.  This is yet another campaign opportunity that the majority is using to platform and advance Donald Trump's extreme agenda.  I don't think the American people are going to buy it.

So, thanks.  I yield back.