Creating Jobs and Protecting American Families; Expanding Health Coverage for Women

Creating Jobs and Protecting American Families
The American people have made it clear: our nation’s top priority is job creation. No recovery can take place until we address kitchen table concerns of America's families: having a steady paycheck, being able to make ends meet, and helping our small businesses and entrepreneurs attract customers, grow, and hire.

Today, the Department of Labor announced that the economy added a total of 117,000 jobs in July, including 154,000 in the private sector, and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 9.1 percent. This jobs report shows some signs of progress, but still serves as a clear reminder: our work must be putting people back to work. Spurring economic growth and creating jobs will reduce the deficit.

This week, Congress crossed the bridge from an obsession with the national debt and a real risk of default to a discussion of job creation – because Democrats recognize that nothing is more critical to Americans’ economic security than good-paying jobs.

Put simply: in Congress, our work must be putting people back to work. And Democrats have a plan: we call it “Make It In America” – our manufacturing strategy to create jobs and keep America Number One. This initiative presents job creation ideas supported by both parties and by Americans from across the political spectrum – from rebuilding our roads, bridges, and rail lines to investments in innovation, broadband, clean energy, and new technologies; from the creation of an infrastructure bank to finance critical projects to a bill to get China and others to start playing fair to measures that give an upper hand to American manufacturers.

If we take action to “Make It In America,” we can help our families, workers, businesses, and entrepreneurs make it in America.

The recent debt ceiling legislation created a new Joint Committee to tackle the challenge of long-term deficit and debt reduction. Yet one thing is clear: any real solution must put job creation and economic growth front and center. Any package must be balanced between revenues and spending cuts. And we must continue to protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits – a promise Democrats kept in the debt talks, a pledge we will uphold moving forward.

There's no better way to reduce the deficit than by creating jobs. We must focus squarely on getting our economy back on track, strengthening our middle class, and addressing the American people's kitchen-table concerns. Working together, it's time to place Americans' top priority — job creation — at the top of our agenda.

Congresswoman Pelosi meets with the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour.

Expanding Preventive Health Coverage for Women
This week, as part of the Affordable Care Act, the administration announced new healthcare guidelines that will benefit thousands of women in California. Under the new rules, insurance plans will be required to cover preventive health services such as breastfeeding support, domestic violence counseling, and all FDA approved contraceptive methods. These new benefits will be available to women at no additional cost for plans starting on or after August 1, 2012. More information on these new changes can be found here. This announcement by the administration is reflective of a new emphasis on preventive care; saving lives and cutting costs.

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