Protecting Our Seniors; Spurring Our Economy

Today, I met with President Obama at the White House to continue our work towards a balanced, bipartisan agreement to reduce the deficit. House Democrats are adamantly opposed to cuts to Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries, which break the promise our country has made to our seniors, that they would be able to depend on these vital programs to protect them in retirement. As a mother and as a grandmother, I have no intention of passing any debt onto future generations, but I refuse to balance the budget on the backs of our nation’s seniors. As we work to reduce our deficit, it is imperative that any budget cuts make sense for our nation, and not harm economic growth and job creation.

As today’s job report shows, more must be done to create jobs and strengthen the middle class. The number one priority of House Democrats’ is job creation. We have forced ten votes on job-creation measures in this Congress – and Republicans have voted ‘no’ each time. Although my colleagues across the aisle named jobs as the “most urgent domestic priority” in their Pledge to America, they have yet to introduce a bill to address job growth. On the contrary, they have introduced bills that will destroy jobs.

Leader Pelosi meets with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.

Just yesterday, House Republicans released their framework for the surface transportation reauthorization. Instead of seizing this opportunity to create jobs, expand commerce and rebuild America, their plan slashes infrastructure investments and would destroy nearly 500,000 American jobs in the next year alone. For Californians, the cuts will mean a loss of $1.2 billion in federal highway infrastructure investments and the elimination of over 43,000 jobs. We will continue our efforts to strengthen the middle class, protect seniors, create jobs and grow the economy.

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